Blast Freezers and Blast Chillers are both essential pieces of equipment for any food service concept. While there are important differences between Blast Freezers and Chillers (we will iterate those differences here), they fulfill a similar purpose: Both rapidly cool foods and ingredients for safety and the preservation of texture and quality.
To understand their differences, it is important to understand how bacteria affects prepared foods and raw ingredients, and how rapid temperature changes preserve food differently based on time and
How Quickly Does Bacteria Affect Food?
It is common knowledge that bacteria can cause food to spoil and become unsafe over time. This is why refrigeration exists in the first place. However, people often underestimate the amount of time it takes for that process to happen, regardless of food or beverage in question.
The Two Hour Rule
For perishable foods, a good rule of thumb is not to leave it out for more than two hours. However, this changes based on the temperature. Bacteria thrives in hotter temperatures, so any foods over 90° actually have a smaller window before they are potentially exposed to harmful bacteria – approximately one hour.
For professional kitchens, this is an all-important issue. Not only does food need to be safe for customers, it is also a matter of timing. Ingredients, prepped foods, and batch orders of meals often need a lot of time between when they are made or used, and when they are served.
This is where Blast Chillers and Blast Freezers come into play!
Blast Chillers vs Blast Freezer?
Sometimes people will use the term Blast Chiller or Blast Freezer interchangeably. You may also be hear the term “Flash Freezer” or “Shock Freezer.” While both of these machines serve similar functions, they are different and those differences are very important.
Blast Chiller
Blast Chillers is a commercial refrigeration unit designed to rapidly reduce the temperature of food to around 37° F within 90 minutes. Preserving freshness and quality. This rapid refrigeration is designed for the short term. Keeping Ice Cream or Gelato from melting as you sell through your inventory, or prepping large pans of food for catered events, dinner service later in the evening, or brunch a few days later.
Blast Freezer
Like Blast Chillers, Blast Freezers are also commercial equipment designed to rapidly freeze and store food. However, Blast Freezers are designed to rapidly reduce temperature much more dramatically, to -22° to -40° F. This allows food and ingredients to be stored for much longer periods of time, in some instances for over a year! All while maintaining the same texture, nutritional value, and taste.
Do I Need a Blast Chiller AND a Blast Freezer?
More than likely there will be times your business needs the capabilities of a Blast Chiller as well as a Blast Freezer. Luckily, GTI Designs offers one unit that does both jobs. Our Lexus Series Blast Freezer/Blast Chiller is available in multiple sizes and is hands down the best value Blast Freezer & Blast Chiller on the market today!
Our Lexus Series models boast a compact design and include digital control, a standard temperature probe, shelving, and heavy duty casters for easier movement. Plus, they are backed by our two-year warranty and nationwide service network!
Tell Us About Your Business
GTI Designs has offered a turn-key solution to food service concepts of all kinds for over 30 years. With display cases, equipment, installation, logistics, and full service design – we know how to set you apart!
Contact us today:
631-981-2100
CustomerService@gtidesigns.com