- sparingly. No additional stabilizing ingredients and preservatives are required to freeze a product, so there is no need to store more salt, sugar, vinegar, citric acid, etc., in addition;
- simply and quickly. Forget about tiring standing at the stove, complicated recipes that require special accuracy and scrupulousness, the need to prepare a sterile container, as well as the long process of processing the products before conservation. All you need to do is put the prepared vegetables and fruits in the appropriate packaging and put them in the freezer;
- useful. Properly frozen foods retain about 80% of all vitamins and amino acids in themselves. The majority of "hot" methods of preservation are less than 50% of such substances in vegetables and fruits.
However, in order to get a really useful and nutritious product as a result, it is necessary to follow the rules of freezing. And there are a lot of them. The main ones concern the speed of the primary freezing process, proper packaging (tare), maintenance of the desired temperature and storage time.
The best quality will be those vegetables and fruits that will be frozen as quickly as possible. In the factory, the "shock method" is most often used for this, when the product immediately after collection, purification and drying drastically cool down to -40 degrees Celsius. This avoids the formation in the cell structure of the fruits of large ice crystals, which can form at temperatures from 0 to -5 degrees. Thus, the consistency of the products remains the most, and the loss of vitamin C is minimal. At home, it is not always possible to provide such a speed, and therefore the quality of domestic harvesting is somewhat lower.
It is very important to choose a packing of sufficient density. If this is a package of food polyethylene, then as much as possible squeeze out excess air, providing sufficient tightness. In addition, it also allows you to keep in fruits ascorbic acid, which is simply deactivated with a slow increase in temperature in the presence of oxygen.
The optimum storage temperature is about -18 degrees Celsius and below. Under such conditions, there is no significant change in the protein and fat content, and an almost complete quantity of pectin, micro- and macro elements is almost completely preserved. Too low temperature somewhat suppresses the activity of enzymes and can sometimes cause damage to their complex structures, and too high a high probability of the acceleration of chlorophyll. And this means that both, as a result, will lead to a change in flavor, color and taste.
Particular attention should be given to the shelf life. Do not save vegetables and fruits for longer than six months, a maximum - a year. Perhaps, the taste qualities will change not so noticeably, but the usefulness of long-term storage of fruits will not be added. Especially, if during storage there were even insignificant temperature fluctuations.
Freeze only the freshest and healthiest fruits. Use a convenient, small packing. This will allow you to easily separate the desired portion, faster defrost the product and not break the storage conditions of the rest.
Remember that re-freezing is not allowed. After all, the nutritional value is not only disturbed, but all the qualitative characteristics of the product also suffer.
Follow these simple rules, and frost will save for you a useful, tasty and fragrant slice of summer.