Freezing is by far the easiest and fastest way to store foods for the long term. Unlike drying and canning, it allows you to preserve the biological value, shape, color, texture, aroma and taste of food. True, products may lose all these qualities if they are thawed incorrectly. And if it is better to freeze food as quickly as possible, the defrosting process should take place slowly and gradually.
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An important rule for the use of thawed foods is their prompt use. The fact is that frozen food, the cellular structure of which is damaged to one degree or another due to the transformation of the liquid it contains into ice crystals, is more vulnerable to the effects of harmful microorganisms than fresh food. Therefore, thawed foods should be cooked, fried, stewed or baked immediately after removing them from the freezer.
In order to properly defrost food, regardless of whether it is mushrooms, meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits or berries, they should be placed on a suitable plate and placed on the lower shelf of the refrigerator.
It is important in the process of thawing raw meat, poultry and fish not to allow them to come into contact with their own juice due to the possible content of bacteria in it. The product should be laid on a saucer turned upside down, placed in a deep plate, cover the top with a bowl or piece of foil for free air circulation.
The duration of defrosting depends on the volume and weight of the food. So, a piece of meat weighing 500 g will be ready for use 5-6 hours after being removed from the freezer, thawing 0.5 kg of fish can last for 3-4 hours. Before use, thawed food must be rinsed with running water and patted with a paper towel.
Do not defrost food in the open air because of the high risk of microbes multiplying on their surface, in a microwave oven - because of the inevitable deprivation of taste, in warm and hot water - because of the loss of useful properties and attractive appearance. Defrosting food in cold water is also not recommended, but if the need for quick defrosting is more important than preserving the beneficial properties of food, try to at least make sure that it does not come into contact with water, for example, put it in a plastic bag or any other waterproof packaging.
The only exception, perhaps, is whole fish, which for quick defrosting can be placed in salted cold water for a while. Fish fillet from contact with liquid can lose all its nutritional properties, taste and benefits. In general, experienced housewives recommend starting cooking fish without waiting for a complete defrost. In this form, it is easier to process it, and the finished dishes as a result are more juicy and tender.
Semi-finished products from meat, poultry and fish, as well as vegetable or fruit slices pre-prepared for creating culinary masterpieces, do not need to be thawed. In a pot, pan or baking pan, these products should be laid out immediately after removal from the freezer. An exception is minced meat, the proper defrosting of which provides for natural thawing on the lower shelf of the refrigerator.
In order to determine whether you did everything correctly in the process of defrosting a product, pay attention to the amount of juice lost by it. The smaller it is, the better you managed to maintain the taste and useful properties of thawed food.
It is impossible to prevent repeated freezing and thawing of products, because this threatens not only the loss of taste, benefits and attractiveness of food, but also the development of harmful microorganisms in its structure and on the surface.