Brine Freezing:
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| Salt, added to water, creates an excellent medium for freezing large or irregularly shaped seafoods, since typical saltwater (23 percent salt) remains liquid to minus 6 degrees F. The process offers good heat transference, so product freezes quickly. In a brine freezer, whole fish are immersed in the mechanically chilled brine. Tuna, swordfish and some shellfish (like king crab sections)are often brine-frozen. Prolonged contact of fish flesh with brine will lead to some salt uptake; avoid excessive salt absorption. Sometimes products are packaged before they are brine frozen, which averts this problem. Generally, salt uptake is serious only when fish are kept in brine more than 4 hours at temperatures below 10 degrees F. Oily fish do not absorb as much salt in brining as do lean species: however, rancidity is more of a problem with oily fish. Because their greater surface-to-volume ratio, small fish take up more salt during brine freezing than do large fish. Immersion brine freezing is often employed aboard tuna purse seiners for at sea freezing. |
