You’ve never experienced freezer burn? It’s not when it feels too cold to touch.
Freezer burn is when “unwrapped” food in the freezer gets ice crystalized all over it. It turns the texture into a disgusting mess when it’s cooked…overly chewy and even messes with the taste.
It happens more often when food has been opened and then placed in the freezer for a prolonged period of time.
I say unwrapped because it doesn’t necessarily mean just open without a container. Like for example I have a bag of chicken nuggets in the freezer. The bag has a re-closable ziplock type closure. However, sometimes over time, if I’ve opened and re-closed the bag, sometimes some of the remaining nugs get freezer burned.
If you’re using up said bag of nuggets relatively quickly, then it’s not a concern. But if you’re only having nuggets once and a while, then freezer burn is more likely to happen.
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Can’t say I’ve heard the term before, no. Also not something I recall experiencing, I usually close bags with a clip or elastic band and most of the time they don’t last for more than a couple of meals anyway, but I can see how that could happen if you have family-sized ones
mrcleanup@lemmy.world 1 day ago
From what I have read, ice is a lot less stable than we usually think. Over time the moisture in food will migrate out and form crystals on the surface leaving the food item dehydrated. It’s more or less the same principle they use for freeze drying.
If you ever find crystals on top of your ice cream, it’s the same thing happening.
Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
It’s also made much worse by defrost cycles. During a freezer defrost cycle the air temp in the freezer will often get above freezing. It shouldn’t be above freezing for very long but it can be long enough for the surface of food to thaw very slightly and then refreeze again. This is why food lasts longer in old school chest freezers. Those freezers don’t have any automatic defrost so food isn’t repeatedly slightly thawing and refreezing.
Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Chest freezers also don’t lose nearly as much cold air when opened compared to upright.
dingus@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah if you’re using them up that quick, you’re not likely to really come across it.