Blast Cooler: Improve Food Quality & Safety

A blast cooler is a must for any kitchen where food needs to be served cold or where food needs to be cooled to be reheated later. In professional kitchen, once the food is cooked to perfection, it should not continue to cook when removed from the oven. A blast cooler stops the food from cooking further, retaining the required food quality, flavour, nutritional value and appearance.

To meet the demand of pretty much any commercial kitchen, blast coolers come in different sizes and models. Those looking to chilling small amounts of food can opt for a compact unit, which is often a good entry-level choice. For a large production kitchen, larger free-standing blast coolers may be more suitable. The largest versions can even accommodate trolleys with double size gastronorm pans at once. Make sure you never exceed your cooler maximum capacity. Each machine is designed to cool a set amount and overloading it will reduce the equipment effectiveness.

When it comes to models, there are many blast cooler types available. However, there are four common types that suit for preserving different foods.

• Soft Chill – It is designed to safely chill delicate products that otherwise would be damaged by hard chill such as patisserie-style desserts. Foods that have high water content such as vegetables, rice, fish, and past also required soft chill to prevent dehydration.
• Hard Chill – This is the standard form of blast cooler. It is recommended for most products including cooked lasagne, meats, pizza, pies, etc.
• Hard Chill “Max” - Certain types of hard chill coolers feature a concentrated form of hard chilling for foods with high amounts of fat or high densities such as sous vide meals, meat joints, and stews.
• Shock Freeze – With abilities to reduce food temperature from 70 degrees Celcius to -18 degree Celcius, this type of cooler can be used on types of food with no damage to flavour, structure or appearance.

Premium blast cooler models usually come with digital programmable controls to allow users to customise and save chilling modes with separate levels of cooling and time. This is especially beneficial for retaining the texture, flavour, and nutritional value of any food that needs to be chilled.

Overall, blast coolers are excellent appliances for commercial kitchens with their ability to reduce the temperature of warm or hot food fast. If you have a restaurant, your business will greatly benefit from this machine as you will be able to offer a wider choice of menu to your customers, cope with busy periods and plan ahead.