• Long-Lasting Quality, Freshness and Flavor from the Source
• Freezing to Maintain the Best Quality
• You, Too, Can Have a Wide Variety of Ingredients from All Over the World
• Stores Well and Maintains Good Quality
• Easy to Thaw, Convenient to Use
Long-Lasting Quality, Freshness and Flavor from the Source
If frozen food is processed correctly, from the freezing process using subzero temperatures to the correct delivery, storage and thawing methods, it can retain good flavor and texture. In particular, if the quality of the food before freezing is already good, the freezing process can preserve that quality and prevent the growth of microorganisms in food. If restaurants could use frozen seafood, it would give them more ingredients to satisfy customer needs and allow them to efficiently control their ingredient costs. 

 Freezing to Maintain the Best Quality
Freezing is a method of processing food. Appropriate tools are used for individual quick freezing (IQF) to create quick ice crystal formation and transform the water in the ingredients into ice. When this is done, microorganisms can’t grow using the water. This process also preserves the texture of the products since these ice crystals are so small that they can’t destroy the products’ texture. This is why freezing seafood is a method that helps extend the shelf life of ingredients.

The freezing process is separated into the following three steps as follows:
Step 1: Pre-cooling. This is the step where ingredients are cooled down to the freezing point. The ingredients’ temperature will lower rather quickly until it reaches the freezing point of water. However, the water in the ingredients will not yet be frozen at this point.
Step 2: Latent zone. This step turns the water in the ingredients into ice by eliminating latent heat. The ingredients are not frozen at this point.
Step 3: Sub-cooling. This step cools the ingredients down until the temperature is below freezing point at -18 degrees Celsius. Products will be completely frozen and need to be stored in freezing temperatures in a cold store. When taken out for use, the ingredients will have to be thawed. Once thawed, the ingredients are as fresh as any fresh ingredient.

 You, Too, Can Have a Wide Variety of Ingredients from All Over the World
Since freezing offers more delivery options, restaurants can get premium quality ingredients from the best sources in the world and serve them to their customers year-round. Most importantly, once your restaurant has ingredients that stand out, it naturally also makes you stand out and you can definitely use this to attract customers.

Frozen Hokkaido Octopus Legs from Japan

Selected quality octopus with good flavor is process quickly at a plant meeting international standard to preserve freshness. The legs are all cleaned and ready to be cooked. You can cook them into a variety of dishes such as grilled octopus legs served with seafood dip, octopus leg salad, stir-fried octopus legs with salted egg and takoiyaki.

Whole Raw Slipper Lobster Imported from Indonesia - The quality is controlled from the time of catch to the time the lobsters are snap frozen at -45 degrees Celsius to preserve freshness. The meat is delicate and sweet. They can be served and attractively decorated and they fetch a good price. Also, they can become a unique signature dish for any restaurant, for example, grilled slipper lobster, slipper lobster fried with garlic and slipper lobster stir-fried with salt and chili. 

 Half Shell Scallops, Roe-On, imported from Chile
The scallops are farmed in suspended nets. The meat is naturally firm and sweet, ready to be grilled with butter or baked with cheese. 

 Frozen Raw Blue Swimmer Crab Meat, Cleaned and Shelled
Imported from Sri Lanka, the quality is controlled from the time of the catch and to the time the crabs are shelled and immediately frozen to ensure the meat is firm, fresh, clean and sweet, ready to be made into hit dishes to satisfy customer expectations, for example, crab curry stir-fry, fried rice with crab, crab omelet and crab curry with betel leaves.

Whole Cooked Spiny Rock Crab Imported from Chile
Only firm, sweet and succulent meat is selected. They can be made into your restaurant’s special dish and served at a large table to fetch a good price, for example, grilled or steamed spiny rock crab served with seafood dip and steamed jumbo crab with glass noodles.  

 Whole Cooked Whelk Imported from Iceland
Farmed using the traditional Irish farming methods, these whelks are large and have a good texture and sweet flavor. They can be boiled or grilled and served with a tasty sauce. 

 Cuttlefish Imported from Vietnam
The cuttlefish is selected for their quality and size. That’s why you get fresh, sweet and large cuttlefish to make into a variety of hit dishes such as grilled cuttlefish, spicy shrimp and cuttlefish salad and cuttlefish and holy basil stir-fry. 

You can find premium quality frozen seafood from Ocean Gems at a Makro near you.
Stores Well and Maintains Good Quality
You should check the packages from their origin. Choose frozen food packages in good condition without any stains, leaks or tears. After buying frozen food, you should store it in the freezer as soon as possible. Don’t let them thaw out because if the juice in the food leaks out, the food will lose its flavor and nutritional value along with the good quality juice.

Easy to Thaw, Convenient to Use
The best way to thaw frozen seafood is to put it in the normal section of the refrigerator for about 8 – 10 hours for the frozen meat to gradually thaw and the ice crystal on the meat to slowly melt. This method might take a long time, but it preserves the flavor and texture of meat well.
Another method is to put frozen meat in a completely sealed plastic bag and submerge the whole thing in cold water for about 2 – 3 hours or until it softens. The cold water will help transfer the heat from the air and maintain the surface temperature of the food so it doesn’t get too high and thus preserve the flavor and texture of the seafood. The water should be changed every 30 minutes for a quicker thaw. However, warm water shouldn’t be used because it would make the food thaw too fast and lose flavor.
You should never use warm water to pour over or soak the food because this will thaw it too quickly. The texture would be mushy and it would lose flavor. In addition, you should determine the amount of frozen seafood that should be thawed each day because, if you re-freeze it, it might be contaminated with bacteria.
Once thawed, it’s not difficult to prepare the ingredients. Just tear the package and start cooking. Other than helping with cost control, frozen food can also reduce complicated preparation and cooking steps.
Credit : http://elearning.psru.ac.th/courses/152/บทที่%209/บทที่%209%20การแปรรูปสัตว์น้ำโดยการแช่เยือกแข็ง.pdf

Tag: seafood, frozen food, ingredient cost control