Freezer Burn
Gary
have the moisture sucked out of them (but it's still in the package in
the form of ice)?
Gary
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jmcquown
> Is there any way to deal with freezer burn? To re-hydrate things that
> have the moisture sucked out of them (but it's still in the package in
> the form of ice)?
>
> Gary
>
freezer burn cut away and still be perfectly okay. If the entire package of
whatever is discoloured and freezer burned, then no. Toss it and count
yourself lucky you didn't try to eat it.
Jill
zxcvbob
> Is there any way to deal with freezer burn? To re-hydrate things that
> have the moisture sucked out of them (but it's still in the package in
> the form of ice)?
>
> Gary
>
Thaw unopened package very slowly in the refrigerator sometimes works.
Bob
Gary
Well, I eat it anyway (ain't got sick yet!). They are store bought meals that
are sealed. All the moisture has come out of the food and is a sheet under the
plastic cover. But, that also happens to bread when I freeze it. If I don't eat
it fast enough, when I thaw it out, the top half is dry while the bottom half is
wet.
Gary
Okay, thanks - I'll try that.
hahabogus
news:oz%ab.5024$an....@bignews6.bellsouth.net:
The meat is still prefectly good as say ...petfood. Just not deemed human
grade anymore.
--
The man who put the FU in fun.
Bob Pastorio
> jmcquown wrote:
>
>
>>Gary wrote:
>>
>>>Is there any way to deal with freezer burn? To re-hydrate things that
>>>have the moisture sucked out of them (but it's still in the package in
>>>the form of ice)?
>>
>>Depending on what you're talking about, some areas of meat can have the
>>freezer burn cut away and still be perfectly okay. If the entire package of
>>whatever is discoloured and freezer burned, then no. Toss it and count
>>yourself lucky you didn't try to eat it.
>
> Well, I eat it anyway (ain't got sick yet!). They are store bought meals that
> are sealed. All the moisture has come out of the food and is a sheet under the
> plastic cover. But, that also happens to bread when I freeze it. If I don't eat
> it fast enough, when I thaw it out, the top half is dry while the bottom half is
> wet.
The meat is still safe, it just isn't as tasty and palatable if the
moisture hadn't migrated.
As for the bread, don't eat it fast. Let it thaw and sit for 12 hours
or so. The moisture will redistribute itself more evenly. It also
depends on where you store the bread. One of my kids called me up and
said the bottom of her bread always gets hard and wanted to know what
to do about it. After a few questions, we determined that she stored
it on top of her microwave which she used a lot for heating coffee and
baby bottles and food. Also used it for cooking veggies like squashes
and such. The cabinet got hot and heated the bottom of the bread. When
she moved the bread, no problem.
Pastorio
Gary
Well, I buy 4-6 loaves at a time, so I must freeze it, or it'll get moldy.
Bob Pastorio
I understand. Why do you buy so much bread at a time? But recognizing
that you do it, freezing is a wise choice. There are two ways that
bread deteriorates in quality. Molding and staling. They're different
processes. Freezing retards both. Just refrigerating will retard mold
growth, but it accelerates staling. Bread gets stale faster in the
fridge than at room temp.
When you thaw the bread, take it out of the freezer and leave it alone
for 12 hours (at least 8 hours), so it will thaw fully and the
moisture will have a chance to redistribute itself through the whole
loaf. The moisture you see as ice crystals came out of the bread, so
letting it sit for a while just means that the original moisture will
go back where it came from.
Pastorio
Gary
> > Well, I buy 4-6 loaves at a time, so I must freeze it, or it'll get moldy.
>
> I understand. Why do you buy so much bread at a time?
I don't go shopping that often, so when I do, I try to make it count.
> But recognizing
> that you do it, freezing is a wise choice. There are two ways that
> bread deteriorates in quality. Molding and staling. They're different
> processes. Freezing retards both. Just refrigerating will retard mold
> growth, but it accelerates staling. Bread gets stale faster in the
> fridge than at room temp.
>
> When you thaw the bread, take it out of the freezer and leave it alone
> for 12 hours (at least 8 hours), so it will thaw fully and the
> moisture will have a chance to redistribute itself through the whole
> loaf. The moisture you see as ice crystals came out of the bread, so
> letting it sit for a while just means that the original moisture will
> go back where it came from.
>
> Pastorio
The problem is, the moisture doesn't always redistribute itself properly and the top is
still dry and the bottom too moist. I think I need to turn it over in the freezer
regularly and while it thaws and "stabilizes".
Synic
> Is there any way to deal with freezer burn? To re-hydrate things that
> have the moisture sucked out of them (but it's still in the package in
> the form of ice)?
If you're talking about frozen meat, then no. What's happened is the
cell walls of the meat have essentially become brittle and cracked
enough to let the moisture and flavours out.
That's not to say that freezer-burnt meat's now unusable in the home
environment. Even some of the worse cases can still be alright in a
curry or a stew. Just remember to add some stock to improve its flavour.
(That said, freezer-burnt fish is a bit of a write-off.)
Jimmy Tango
"Gary" <scho...@vcn.com> wrote in message news:3F6C9584...@vcn.com...
> jmcquown wrote:
>
> > Gary wrote:
> > > Is there any way to deal with freezer burn? To re-hydrate things that
> > > have the moisture sucked out of them (but it's still in the package in
> > > the form of ice)?
> > >
> > > Gary
> > >
> > Depending on what you're talking about, some areas of meat can have the
> > freezer burn cut away and still be perfectly okay. If the entire
package of
> > whatever is discoloured and freezer burned, then no. Toss it and count
> > yourself lucky you didn't try to eat it.
> >
> > Jill
>
> Well, I eat it anyway (ain't got sick yet!). They are store bought meals
that
> are sealed. All the moisture has come out of the food and is a sheet under
the
> plastic cover. But, that also happens to bread when I freeze it. If I
don't eat
> it fast enough, when I thaw it out, the top half is dry while the bottom
half is
> wet.
>
Gary, try putting your bread (in the original wrapper, of course) in those
plastic grocery store bags before putting them in the freezer. I find it
helps.
Jimmy Tango
> I understand. Why do you buy so much bread at a time?
Perhaps he is like my mother, and has a hard time getting around to the
store.
Lucian Wischik
>I don't go shopping that often, so when I do, I try to make it count.
Can you buy those half-uncooked loaves of bread? I think they're meant
to be stored in the freezer. (or maybe fridge?) Anyway, I bet that
they'll keep better. Plus, when you put them in the oven to finish off
the cooking, it'll be sort of like fresh bread.
--
Lucian
Gary
Hmmm... Interesting. I'll try it.
Thanks,
Gary
Exactly. No car, so when I do go shopping, I try to make it count.
Gary
Never seen 'em. I'll look for then the next time I shop. What section
might it be in, as I'm sure it's not on the bread isle.
The store where I shop, is in the primitive and small town where I live;
they don't have much variety. But, they are making a huge new one right
next door to soon move into. I'm sure they will have much more variety.
Christina
and put the date on the bag of when you bought it. Wait till it thaws
out, then open it and cook it. Plastic is better than foil, but no
matter what you freeze or how, eventualy it will have some form of
freezer burn. The trick is to eat it within a certain amount of time.
Christina
Gary
Except with vacuum packed things; when the plastic wrap is tight against
the food and there's no room for moisture to come out, it'll stay fresh
for years.
zxcvbob
Meat wrapped tightly in "freezer paper" and stored in a deep freezer will
stay in excellent condition for years without freezer burn.
Best regards,
Bob
Blair P. Houghton
>I understand. Why do you buy so much bread at a time? But recognizing
>that you do it, freezing is a wise choice. There are two ways that
>bread deteriorates in quality. Molding and staling. They're different
>processes. Freezing retards both. Just refrigerating will retard mold
>growth, but it accelerates staling. Bread gets stale faster in the
>fridge than at room temp.
Here's the funny part: stale bread (often) isn't dried
out. The water has bound itself to other molecules
(starches or sugars or proteins, oh my!...no, really,
I forget which) as a hydration complex (maybe it's the
salts).
You can un-stale bread by--get this--HEATING it.
Throw it in the toaster or the nuke or the cauldron for
a nonce (to be calibrated with experience, of course) and
the heat will break the bonds between the water molecules
and whatever it is they're clinging to.
--Blair
"Of course it isn't foolproof.
The fools in here are very advanced."
Sapphire
I usually just turn my stale bread into french toast. Not only does it
taste just fine, but I don't have to worry as much about it falling
apart between the batter and the griddle. Fresh bread tends to come
apart on me...
-Sapphire.
-------------------------------------
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Dimitri
"Gary" <scho...@vcn.com> wrote in message news:3F6C8443...@vcn.com...
> Is there any way to deal with freezer burn? To re-hydrate things that
> have the moisture sucked out of them (but it's still in the package in
> the form of ice)?
>
> Gary
Generally no.
As you know the "burn" is a removal of most is not all of the moisture in a
given area. The rehydration process is only mildly successful even if the
food is "tempered" in the fridge. I suspect the cell walls that hold the
moisture in are so severely damaged as not to allow the refilling of the
individual cells with moisture.
Think of it this way - can you ever reconstitute beef jerky to the fresh
undried product?
Dimitri
Gary
I would expect the damaged cell walls to make it easier to rehydrate, not
harder, since they have more holes, not less. I am familiar with freezing fast
(in things like liquid nitrogen) vs. slow, and the damage that slow freezing
does to cell walls.
I guess the only half way solution would be to suck out the air, but, with
bread, you can only suck out so much, or the bread is ruined.
The people that gave me the old freezer burned food, also gave me some vacuum
packed hamburger patties. Since there is zero air, there is zero moisture sucked
out; they are perfectly good and fresh (I don't think they know that principal).
*hehe*
And, I just finished eating a Mexican TV dinner they gave me. It has ice all
over under the clear wrapping. But, since all the items in it were "moist" items
in their natural state, the ice melted and went back into the food. It was
great!
Nancy Young
> The people that gave me the old freezer burned food, also gave me some vacuum
> packed hamburger patties. Since there is zero air, there is zero moisture sucked
> out; they are perfectly good and fresh (I don't think they know that principal).
> *hehe*
I love my Tilia.
(laugh) nancy
sundanc...@yahoo.com
Me too! Just go a new one, the old one quit on me after 5 years of daily use -
Tilia wanted 6 weeks and $50 + shipping charges to fix it and this is the worse
time of the year for me to be without a vacuum sealer but that's ok, the new model
is even better.