Comments on: feast and freeze http://blog.seacoasteatlocal.org/2007/07/05/strawberries/ think globally, eat locally Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:58:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Jen http://blog.seacoasteatlocal.org/2007/07/05/strawberries/#comment-3 Jen Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:24:37 +0000 http://blog.seacoasteatlocal.org/2007/07/05/strawberries/#comment-3 Great tip on freezing the wonderful berries. If you can get some, dry ice is a great way to freeze delicate things like berries. Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and is much, much colder than regular ice (-110°F). Because it's so much colder, things freeze lickety-split. This is a good thing because rapid freezing creates small ice crystals and this inturn maintains the integrity of the fruit. When things freeze slowly, the ice crystals get bigger and poke holes in the cells of fruit creating holes which the juice runs out of when thawed. So, faster freezing = smaller ice crystals = thawed berries that still look like berries and not berry soup. Put a block in a cooler, line the berries on a sheet pan and place in the cooler. Close and come back 30 minutes later to rock hard berries. Just make sure you don't stick your head in the cooler and breathe - it's got a ton of carbon dioxide and you don't want to breathe that in. But don't worry - the food is 100% safe. Great tip on freezing the wonderful berries. If you can get some, dry ice is a great way to freeze delicate things like berries. Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and is much, much colder than regular ice (-110°F). Because it’s so much colder, things freeze lickety-split. This is a good thing because rapid freezing creates small ice crystals and this inturn maintains the integrity of the fruit. When things freeze slowly, the ice crystals get bigger and poke holes in the cells of fruit creating holes which the juice runs out of when thawed. So, faster freezing = smaller ice crystals = thawed berries that still look like berries and not berry soup.

Put a block in a cooler, line the berries on a sheet pan and place in the cooler. Close and come back 30 minutes later to rock hard berries. Just make sure you don’t stick your head in the cooler and breathe - it’s got a ton of carbon dioxide and you don’t want to breathe that in. But don’t worry - the food is 100% safe.

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