All fruit preserved by freezing should be brought to a temperature of °F or below during freezing and thereafter held at °F or below until sold to the consumer.
Containers suitable for freezing fruits include plastic freezer containers, flexible freezer bags, and glass canning and freezing jars. Fruit may be packed in retail-sized container and frozen in one of three ways:
*The containers are placed in trays; the trays are placed on the racks and frozen as the racks are moved through a tunnel in which blasts of cold air are circulated;
*The carton are paced on chain mesh belts that move slowly through a tunnel in which blast of cold air are circulated
*The cartons are placed on trays; the filled trays are placed between refrigerated metal plates. and the product is frozen with containers in contact with the cold plates.
Freezing does not sterilize food; the extreme cold simply retards growth of microorganisms and slows down changes that affect quality or cause spoilage in food. Freezing preservation of fruit and vegetables is less destructive toward some antioxidant compounds, in particular total phenolics and ascorbic acid, than other means of preservation.
Preserving of fruits by freezing method
