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Freezing and storing food
48
Always observe USDA food safety
guidelines.
WARNING! Fire hazard!
Do not operate any electrical equip-
ment inside the appliance. This can
cause sparking.
Maximum freezing capacity
To ensure that fresh food placed in the
freezer freezes through to the core as
quickly as possible, the maximum
freezing capacity must not be ex-
ceeded. The maximum freezing capac-
ity for freezing within a 24-hour period
is given on the data plate: "Freezing ca-
pacity ....lbs/24 hrs."
What happens when you freeze
fresh food?
Fresh food should be frozen as quickly
as possible so that the nutritional value
of the food, its vitamin content, appear-
ance and flavor are maintained.
The longer food is frozen, the more wa-
ter it loses from each individual cell in to
the intermediate spaces. The cells then
shrink. During the defrosting process,
only some of this water is reabsorbed
by the cells. In practical terms, this
means that the food loses a substantial
amount of liquid, which can be seen by
the fact that a large pool of water col-
lects around it.
If food is frozen quickly, the cells have
less time to lose moisture, so they
shrink less. As there is not so much
moisture loss, it is easier for the food to
reabsorb it during the defrosting
process, and very little water collects
around the defrosted food.
Storing frozen food
When buying frozen food to store in
your freezer, make sure to check:
– that the packaging is not damaged,
– the expiration date and
– the temperature at which the frozen
food is being stored in the shop. The
length of time it can be kept is re-
duced if it has been stored at a tem-
perature warmer than 0°F (-18°C).
Buy frozen food at the very end of
your shopping trip.
Store it in the freezer compartment as
soon as possible.
Never re-freeze partially or fully
defrosted food. Defrosted food may
only be re-frozen after it has been
cooked.
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