Terminal Frost

Question
Hello Geoff.

It has been said a lot here about freezing and its effect on meats but let me trouble you with one more question. In one of the recent posts you said that 揚refreezing raw meat is generally considered to be  slightly harmful to the meat, with slow-freezing such as putting fresh, raw, non-frozen meats in the freezer, being viewed as more damaging to the meat than buying meat that's been "quick-frozen" from the relevant farmer/producer.?I cannot but agree, however it would be great to know what do you think about the meats frozen in the wilderness? I mean, when the pray/animal is killed and then left out in the cold barn overnight... I presume hunter-gatherers who lived in the cold climates would eat "naturally frozen" meats/organs quite often in the winter time of the year, right? Do you have any historical evidence of such a practice (i.e., Eskimo)? So, how damaging that way of freezing could be? Is there any difference for how long the meats were left in the cold (whether they are slightly pre-frozen or completely frozen)? And, finally, it is believed that fats are less susceptible to below zero temperatures. But in case of organ meats, would there be a significant loss of Vitamins or nutrients?

with every good wish,
Yuri


Answer
Well, "quick-freezing", AFAIK, usually means that the meat is quick-frozen within seconds, which usually wouldn't happen to meats just left out to freeze in the open, so it should constitute "slow-freezing". *That said, I've just read online accounts re the Eskimos referring to them as "quick-freezing" their meats.* At any rate, putting meats in the freezer-compartment of your fridge, apparently constitutes "slow-freezing".

Well, my guess would be that slightly-frozen meats would be less affected than completely-frozen meats. As regards actual effects of freezing, all I can do is point you to two standard websites from my group links page  discussing the effects of freezing on cells:-

http://tinyurl.com/35fzoj

http://tinyurl.com/2ujllg


Re organ-meats:- Since raw organ-meats already contain significantly higher levels of nutrients than muscle-meats, the issue of freezing lowering nutrient-levels is much less important, in that regard.

Re eating frozen meats:- While hunter-gatherers may have eaten meats that had previously been prefrozen I doubt they would have frequently eaten meats that were still in a frozen state. I've occasionally tried eating frozen meats without letting them thaw first, out of sheer laziness, and it's not something I like making a habit!

Re historical evidence re Eskimos:- There's very little info on Eskimos' cultural practice of freezing foods. All I found was stories about Clarence Birdseye learning about quick-freezing from the Eskimos. If you want proper historical accounts, you're going to have to read books by Arctic explorers such as Vilhjalmur Stefansson and other books re Eskimo cultural practices, I'm afraid.

RPG

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