Covered food is also less likely to absorb smells and flavours from other foods around it. If you place food in an airtight container (glass is best), it will dramatically slow the release of any aromatic compounds produced by bacteria or the food itself. There are some simple steps you can take to stop your freezer from smelling.įirst, try to prevent odours from developing in the first place by covering the food. If your fridge has foul odours from the food inside (natural or after microbial spoilage), it is very likely they will migrate to your freezer.ĪLSO READ: Small-scale irrigation can help boost nutrition and food security Help, my freezer smells! The two units share a single cooling source and airflow channel. Other are more water-hating or “hydrophobic” and they stick to things like silicone ice cube trays, making them go smelly.ĭomestic freezers are commonly attached to a refrigerator, and this provides another opportunity for smells to move through the systems. We call them “hydrophilic” or water loving those are the ones that will make your food taste bad. Where they end up depends on what else is around. If these are volatile, they move about the freezer and stick to other things. In a similar way, as water in food freezes, organic molecules are concentrated and expelled. Thus, the iceberg is composed of fresh water, and the surrounding sea water becomes a saltier and denser brine. As the sea water freezes, salt is removed. On a large scale, this happens to icebergs in the ocean. Depending on how rapidly something is frozen, salts can sometimes be concentrated, as pure water freezes at a higher temperature than water with things dissolved in it – like sugars and salts. ![]() ![]() This phenomenon is called “ salt rejection”. Many of us would be familiar with “freezer burn” on meats and other foods, as well as ice crystals on frozen food. There’s a suite of chemical processes happening in the freezer, too.įreezing causes physical changes to foods, often enhancing their breakdown. It is not only microbial growth that can lead to undesirable odours. ![]() Kimchi is one of the foods we deliberately allow to be ‘contaminated’ in order to produce the intense flavour. Nungning20/ShutterstockĪLSO READ: Health is wealth: Three of the best – and worst – foods for your heart Freezing changes the food When fermenting a food, we intentionally contaminate it with microbes of known characteristics, or provide conditions that favour the growth of desirable microbes and subsequent production of aromatic compounds.īy contrast, uncontrolled food spoilage is problematic, especially when the contaminating microbes can cause disease. They are the pleasant aromas that we sense when we eat, but VOCs can also be produced by bacteria.įor example, many of us would be familiar with the smells that come from fermentation – a microbial process. These are generally referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |