You never ask yourself who first came up with freezing food? Is this an accident or an empirically verified method? What was the first food they tried to freeze?
prehistory
It is believed that the first to try to freeze food was Francis Bacon, an English philosopher. In 1626, he traveled to northern England, and observing the snowy nature from the window of the carriage, he came up with this idea. Whether this is true, it was not possible to prove – the scientist did not leave behind the results of his experiments.
History
But everything is known about Clarence Birdsay, the author and owner of the world’s first frozen food industry.
In 1912, a biologist by training, he was on a government assignment in northern Canada. Since it was problematic to get constantly fresh food, the locals froze vegetables in the water. The future owner of a profitable business experimented with freezing fish and came to the conclusion that neither the taste nor the vitamin composition of the fish changed after thawing. And despite the fact that until that time there were already frozen fruits in desserts and frozen meat, it was frozen fish that began to be exported by Canada for the first time. So on March 6, 1930, the first frozen products of the Birds Eye brand appeared.
Clarence did not stop there and developed the ideas of freezing, replacing conventional freezing with fast freezing – already in 1934 he opened a new enterprise with this processing method. In 10 years with its help it will be possible to transport frozen products by rail freight wagons-refrigerators.
Another revolutionary idea by Birds is the freezing of finished food, peeled and processed. The busy housewife can only defrost the food and cook it slightly. Packages of frozen shrimp, oysters, meat, fish, vegetables and fruits appear.
In the forties, puff pies, soups, side dishes, french fries, Mexican mixes, pizza joined them. All products are packed in foil.
Along with the prosperity of this business, all kinds of bureaus and associations for freezing products, unions of packers of frozen food, a society for the protection of consumer rights for frozen foods begin to appear, consumption statistics are collected, congresses and meetings are organized.
In the fifties, any self-respecting store has a huge section of frozen products, packaging is being improved, in which you can reheat cooked frozen meals. Vegetables and fruits become the leaders in freezing.
In the sixties, with the advent of microwaves, frozen mixes became even more popular. Fast food chain McDonald’s is also starting to use frozen convenience foods and ready meals.
The XNUMXs saw the advent of quick-fry mixes for frozen food, and Burger King is also making the transition to frozen food.
In the eighties, frozen first courses appeared, and fast food restaurants were freezing their burgers, fries and milkshakes for retail.
In the nineties, more and more women are building their careers, and the more popular are frozen foods, especially designed for families and not requiring the creation of recipes – they just warmed up the packaging and fed all the household members.
Freezing food today
Today, freezing allows you to transport products without worrying about their safety over long distances, as well as to use the gifts of nature all year round.
For vegetables and fruits, the method of shock freezing is used, when food is frozen quickly at the lowest possible temperature. All trace elements, 90 percent of vitamins, as well as taste, shape, color are preserved.
It is necessary to defrost vegetables and fruits directly during cooking, and store at a temperature not exceeding -18 degrees.
It is customary to freeze fish and seafood by glazing. First, the fish is cooled at a temperature of 0 degrees, and then gradually doused with water and the glaze is frozen. Such a product retains all its nutritional qualities.
When choosing frozen foods, make sure that they are not sticky or leaking – this may indicate that the food has been frozen more than once. When re-frozen, food will lose all its benefits.