Cook & Chill - Rapid Chilling of Food 'in situ'

Rapid cooling of products is of increasing importance for food preservation and for industrial processes. Slurry ice (Binary Ice) is a two-phase cooling fluid consisting of suspended ice crystals in an aqueous solution or mixture. Latent energy contained in the fluid yields rapid cooling which is expressed in high cooling velocity.

It is, however, difficult to establish cooling curves for every product and process. Using two readings from a cooling process allows the va��to be determined of a constant OCT which expresses the specific cooling velocity and serves to establish cooling curves for a given product and process and to compare different cooling fluids and methods.

Chilling of hot products in professional cooking kettles immediately after cooking is achieved best by using Binary Ice. The paper gives an equation, which describes the cooling velocity for such kettles and other products immersed in Binary Ice.