Freezing, mostly a good thing.

[Guest guest]

Since oxidation, ie rancidity, spoilage and decay, is very temperature related,

the cooler the environment, the slower things go bad. Contrarily at room

temperature things tend to go south quickly. Refrigerator temperature cuts

the oxidation by many times whereas proper freezing vastly slows the

oxidation process to almost imperceptible. Coffee beans are an example of a

food that has been killed in roasting but still has essential oils and fatty

acids

that can get rancid with too much warmth. Another example are " fresh fish " of

which almost 100% are now carefully flash frozen right on the fishing boat

thus making it a far superior product for the table even though it is sold as

" fresh " raw fish, even sushi. This arrested oxidation technique makes for not

only a better tasting fish, but a safer one as well. Whole flour kept at room

temperature is worse for you than white flour (it has no germ tissue) since

exposed germ gets rancid and toxic within a few hours (unless you blast it

with preservatives immediately).

The same principles apply to the biological processes of living seeds as well.

To stay alive for future germination, the seed slowly consumes the starchy

food supplies put in the seed for that purpose. All that sugar and starch is

there to feed the germ and keep it alive. The cooler the environment, the

slower the consumption and the longer the seed can live. That is why living

cells, sperm, eggs and such can be kept at -400 degrees F in liquid nitrogen

in almost suspended animation and almost forever. Many insects and

anphibians actually freeze in the winter and can stay alive for many seasons

due to the minimalistic cellular metabolism. Extreme hibernation. They often

have " antifreeze " like chemicals in their blood to keep it from actually

crystallizing even though the body temperature is below zero.

Moisture is another matter and must be lowered and stabilized so that ice

crystals don't crush or explode the cells. " Freezer burn " is actually excess

dehydration of the substance.

Another issue I think some people misunderstand is the " refreezing " of food

especially meat. I've heard people who almost think it magically makes food

dangerous and taboo to eat when it has been refrozen. In actuality the

danger is from food that has spent too much time thawed, especially if

bacterial action is going on, which is almost always. Meat could theoretically

be refrozen dozens of times without being dangerous at all as long as the

cumulative warm temperature exposure is not excessive.

The refreezing however does destroy flavor quality as well as destroying

precious antioxidents, vitamins and other vital nutrients. ALL processing of

food be it cooking, boiling, baking, frying or freezing takes a toll on the

nutrients, especially the fragile ones like the anti-oxidants. Microwaving is

the

worst, destroying ALL the anti-oxidants, the very nutrients we all need to

protect us from cancer and other modern ills. Fresh food is the absolute best,

it's just not always possible or practical.

Will in Minneapolis