After a hot and tiring day, you come home quickly and tend to treat yourself with some delicious ice cream in the freezer of your lovely fridge. However, when you open the pint, there are a bunch of crunchy crystals above. We know this devastated feeling. Your ice cream actually gets freezer burn and you really hate it. So, we will show you how to get rid of freezer burn on ice cream with very simple treats.
Although it is still safe to eat, it loses its original flavor and texture.
What is freezer burn?
Freezer burn
In fact, ice cream stored in our freezer is usually not as delicious as those in the supermarket. When zooming to detail, we can see there are a bunch of crunchy crystals above. This condition is called freezer burn, an extremely common condition of ice cream or frozen food in general. You can see it in every single freezer of all households.
Causes of freezer burn
Too much moisture
This condition is explained simply as a result of sublimation. In common, ice melts into water, then water evaporates into steam. But in the case of ice cream, ice evaporates into steam without the middle period. That steam is the moisture of ice cream, along with ambient moisture in the freezer and then becomes crystal or freezer burn attaching on the top of ice cream.
Wrong temperature
When ice cream has melted a bit before re-freezed in our fridge, especially on the way home from groceries. In this condition, there’s an amount of water coming out and frozen, making large freezer burn on products.
The temperature of your freezer is not ideal for storing ice cream. That also forces freezer burn happening faster.
How to get rid of freezer burn on ice cream
After exploring the causes and condition of freezer burn, it’s easier to find a solution. Now we come to the most important section of this article, how to get rid of freezer burn on ice cream. Remember that: Whatever the ways you choose to manage this annoying problem, there are always two things you should take note about: temperature and moisture. They are the key to preserving ice cream well.
1. Choose the right temperature for preserving ice cream
Almost all manufactures display the information about preserving temperature on the label. All you need to do is adjust your freezer to this temperature for the best preservation, commonly from – 5 °F to 0°F.
You may also like: 10 Best Mini Fridges with Freezer
2. Don’t store ice cream near the door of freezer
This tip sounds so simple but many people don’t get it. They often store ice cream with other frozen food and don’t care about the order. Put your ice cream near the back of the freezer to avoid warm air from the outside environment. The ice cream stays safe in the coldest part of the freezer, with consistent temperature.
3. Wrap your pint carefully
After opening an ice cream pint, don’t just close its lid. Wrap your pint tightly with plastic wrap or wax paper, or all you can find in your kitchen to wrap it. That helps avoid ambient moisture joining with one coming out of your ice cream to become freezer burn.
4. Put your pint on the invert side
This tip is one of the most interesting one. Maybe it sounds strange to many people but it is really helpful. On the invert side, the melted part of your ice cream is frozen on the lid. That helps freezer burn not attach on the top of ice cream and therefore not affect its flavor and texture.
5. Don’t refreeze ice cream more than once
Even if you have good preservation, melted ice cream actually loses its original texture. When refreezing, freezer burn happens for sure. So, you should take ice cream from the freezer and eat it all in one serve. If it’s too much, take enough and make sure the extant part is not melted all the time.
Further reading: What Are the Best Cheap Freezers for Home Use?
Related questions
Is it safe to eat freezer burned ice cream?
Yes, freezer burned ice cream is perfectly safe to eat. Only the taste and texture will change when the ice cream get freezer burn. It has unpleasant taste, and you cannot feel the smooth creaminess of the best ice cream. It’s not exactly appetizing anymore. You may not want to eat the freezer burned portion because of the quality reasons, not the safety reasons.
When the bacteria grow and reach the unsafe level, the food quality will be damaged. Bacteria usually grow slowly in fridge temperature, but they will stop growing in freezer. Therefore, if you keep the ice cream frozen all the time, do not worry about getting any sick if you eat it.
Further reading: How to Prevent Freezer Burn on Vegetables and Fruits?
What can you make from freezer the burned ice cream?
If you do not like the taste of freezer burned ice cream, you can make some delicious dishes for desserts.
Make a shake: Put it in a blender with some milk and malt powder. Then, make yourself a shake and enjoy it.
Bread pudding: It can be quickly done by using a box of melted ice cream and a loaf of bread. Enjoy the pudding as your dessert.
French toast: Wait until the freezer burned ice cream completely melt, it may take about one hour. You can use this liquid as the dough for a plate of French toast.
Conclusion
Freezer burn is common and annoying but you can easily eject it with many simple tips. All you need to do is take note about temperature and moisture, including choose the right temperature, avoid refreezing melted ice cream, prevent moist ambient air pervading into the pint and joining with moisture from ice cream to become crystal. That will help a lot to preserve your ice cream, even for a long time.
With much useful information in this article, hopefully now you know clearly how to get rid of freezer burn on ice cream. Let’s have such wonderful ice cream without any worries about freezer burn. Thank you for reading!
Reference:
1. Easy Ways to Prevent Freezer Burn, benjerry.com, Retrieved on Dec. 11, 2021
2. Tricks to prevent freezer burnt ice cream, according to the experts, today.com, Retrieved on Dec. 12, 2021
