Blast Chillers Are High in Demand

By Stana Peete

4 December 2013

Did you know that blast chilling is an increasingly popular practice amongst catering companies? That is due to the fact that cooling food quickly to a low temperature renders it relatively safe from bacterial growth.

The bacteria tend to multiply faster at temperatures between 8 and 68 degrees Celsius. If you reduce the temperature of the food quickly to below 3 degrees Celsius within 90 minutes, you can minimise the bacterial growth and render the food safe for storage and consumption later. This brings me to the hot topic of why blast chillers are in such high demand. Electronic blast chillers reduce the temperature of food very quickly. They are able to bring the cooling temperature down to 3 degrees Celsius and the freezing temperature down to as low as -18 degrees Celsius. This ensures that the food remains safe for later consumption.

We all know how busy the catering business can be, that time is of the essence and consumer safety is at the top of the list. Restaurants and caterers find this commercial kitchen equipment indispensable to their day-to-day business practices because it offers time saving and hygiene in one package. The blast chiller is ideal for cooling drinks quickly or freezing desserts such as ice cream based puddings. When running a restaurant you don't have all day to spend on preparing a certain dish or dessert, so you need to consider using a blast chiller to speed up the preparation process even while you a busy with other dishes. This takes multi-tasking to another level and consequently gives your catering business the competitive edge.

In previous years, commercial fridges and freezers were standard and made with only one purpose in mind: to freeze. They were not geared for speed cooling and freezing which meant that chefs could not process their foods as quickly as they needed to because they generally had to prepare a certain dish or dessert a day before so that it could cool or freeze overnight. Take a fridge tart, for example. This is a delicious treat that many people enjoy but you'd have to prepare it a day before then put it into the fridge overnight so that it can set. With the blast chiller, you can prepare the fridge tart in the morning and cool it in the blast chiller which would only take about 90 minutes for it to set. So you get a fresh fridge tart that can be served to your customers the same day.

It's easy to see why blast chillers are in such high demand. It allows the caterer to offer a better service and higher quality food thus keeping customers satisfied and returning for more.