What is IQF and how does it work?
Whenever we buy any frozen product from the market or any other product which needs to be kept in the freezer, we always face this problem of the products sticking together when we take them out. Then it takes more time for us to separate them and then cook them. Have you ever thought about why this problem never happens with the food industries? It is because they use a special technique for it. This technique is known as Individual Quick Freezing (IQF).
What is IQF?
It is a special method of freezing all the products and keeping them separate from each other. For example, if you are freezing berries by IQF technique, the berries will not be frozen together. They will be separated and of good quality. Individual Quick Freezing method is a very convenient method to freeze products such as berries, peas, fish and shrimp. Now you must be curious to know how this method actually works.
How does it work?
IQF technique freezes the products very quickly by keeping them separate. You must have seen a lot of times that when we freeze products at home, there are ice crystals formed on the products and they are usually bigger in size. So, when the freezing of a product is fast, the ice crystals formed on them will be smaller in size. But when the freezing of a product is slow, the ice crystals will be bigger in size and they can also cause damage to the product. The IQF technique blast freezes the products very fast. You will get a high quality product with the Individual Quick Freezing technique. The products that can be frozen with this method are French fries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, corn and peas.
The ice crystals which are formed on these products are usually formed at the temperature of 31 and 25 degrees F. The longer a food item is kept in the freezer at this temperature, the more ice crystals will be formed. The IQF technique works by freezing the food as quickly as possible and hence smaller ice crystals are formed.
Benefits of IQF
- Better Quality– As we know that IQF freezes the products quickly and smaller ice crystals are formed, so the quality of the products frozen by IQF method will be better.
- Good Appearance– As the quality of these products will be better, they will obviously look better in appearance and also because of the smaller ice crystals formed on them.
- More vitamins– When the products are kept in the freezer for a long period of time, they usually lose their vitamins and minerals. By using IQF, the vitamins and minerals will be intact in the product.
- Saves Time-When the products are separated from each other, they will take less time to thaw rather than the products that are stuck together. So the IQF method will save your time too.
The IQF method has a lot of benefits, so if you think that it will be good for you then you should definitely go for it.
