Today's freezer are great
Almost all modern freezers are now designed to be frost free. When frost builds up, the freezer automatically melts the frost buildup. The more food you have in the freezer. in reality, causes the freezer to be more efficient. It takes more energy to freeze a half full freezer that a full freezer. Most freezers have an automatic defrost mode timer that turns off the freezer every 6-8 hours and turns on the defrost heater. Some systems have a defrost heater that can be programmed for a specific defrost time each day.
If frost is building up in your freezer there are several things to consider:
1. The timer is not working properly or maybe not at all.
2. It could be the heater motor.
3. Sometimes the condenser coils are coated with debris and need cleaning.
4. Or, the rubberized gasket around the lid is shot and needs to be replaced. Try cleaning your coils first before calling a repairman.
Freezer burn is actually caused by dehydration of the product being frozen. Food in supermarket wrapping is not air tight; this fact allows the moisture from the food to escape. To prevent freezer burn, re-wrapping the items you want to freeze making sure it is air tight.
Your freezer should maintain a temperature between 0 and 8 degrees. If you immediately turn the freezer on and fill it, it will take about 24 hours to reach this desired temperature. If you purchase a new freezer, turn it on and let it set for 24 hours before filling it with food product. The temperature should only fluctuate a few degrees over 24 hours. Thawing and re-freezing is the worst thing you can do to food because when you initially freeze the food it develops small ice crystals in the cell walls of product. If you thaw it and refreeze it, those small crystals become larger rupturing the cell walls of the product causing your food to taste poorly.
Here are some good freezing tips:
• If you have items that will go from the freezer to the over, it best to use aluminum foil when wrapping it.
• Freeze baked goods that are low in moisture. Bread must be tightly wrapped.
• Vegetables should be blanched before freezing.
• Frozen fruit do not retain flavor after freezing.
• If you trim the fat off meat before freezing, it will last longer.
• Most sauces freeze well because of high water content.
Most microorganisms are not destroyed by freezing. The Discovery Channel just did a program on ice cores from the Antarctic which showed microbial movement and re-growth after thawing the ice. The reason I bring this up is because the botulism microorganism is alive and well in the U.S. Care must be taken when freezing food. It does help blanching food first. If you thaw something and notice an unusual odor or looks strange in appearance, don’t cook or eat it. If you do you take the chance of infecting yourself with a very nasty microorganism.
If you would like to share a cleaning idea or concept with the reading audience, call Ed at NWES (208-255-2266) or toll free at 1-877-311-NWES. E-mail them to nwees@hughes. net or send them to Bonner County Daily Bee, 310 Church St. , Sandpoint, ID 83864, Attn: What Would Ed do? For more information about Ed’s company, check him out at NWESINC. COM. Copy written by Edmond E. Madan, certified forensic, fire, flood, mold inspection and remediation contractor. Ed is the president of Northwest Executive & Environmental Services, Inc.