On Food and Cooking

crystallizes, enzymes and other reactive
molecules become unusually concentrated and
react abnormally. The other damage is
physical disruption caused by the water
crystals, whose edges puncture cell walls and
membranes. When the food is thawed, the cell
fluids leak out of the cells, and the food loses
crispness and becomes limp and wet.
Producers of frozen foods minimize the size
of the ice crystals, and so the amount of
damage done, by freezing the food as quickly
as possible to as low a temperature as
possible, often –40ºF/–40ºC. Under these
conditions, many small ice crystals form; at
higher temperatures fewer and larger crystals
form, and do more damage. Home and
restaurant freezers are warmer than
commercial freezers and their temperatures
fluctuate, so during storage some water melts
and refreezes into larger crystals, and the
food’s texture suffers.
Although freezing temperatures generally