Ever eat a popsicle out of your fridge that is full of those chunky ice crystals? It turns out crystallization is the natural result of the freezing process, and those pesky ice crystals almost always degrade the flavor and mouthfeel of most types of food.
Which is why many restaurants and high-end food copackers install flash freezers, expensive machines that freeze food fast enough to avoid crystallization. But with professional flash freezers costing up to $50 thousand, flash freezing has all but been a fantasy for the home user…until now.
That’s because at IFA this past week, a startup out of Korea by the name of Frigondas debuted a flash-freezer/microwave product that can take food from room temperature to negative four degrees Fahrenheit in about six minutes.
Reviewed.com’s Keith Barry was on site in Berlin to check out the product demo and was impressed with the results.
“We tried some berries and some watermelon that had been frozen and defrosted in the Frigondas, and they were almost as delicious as fresh ones.”
The Frigondas flash freezes food by blasting it with cold air, exactly how many professional flash freezers work. In fact, when I was in Japan last week I visited Daybreak, a startup that provides flash freezing consulting services to restaurants and food copackers. One of the freezers they had on site was a “3D Freezer” which used a high-velocity fan to freeze food. You can see me sticking my hand in the freezer below (yes, it was cold).
Frigondas, the company, is still a bit of a mystery, but according to their website, they hold two global patents, one related to flash freezing and the other for a combo freezer/heating product. Patents are always important, particularly so if a company wants to license their technology for manufacturing (which the company indicates it wants to do).
While the product is currently only available as a prototype, the company has indicated it is ready to take it to manufacturing. While it’s not clear when the microwave/freezer combo will be on the market, Reviewed’s Barry indicates the is aiming to sell the Frigonda will for about $1,000.
I am really excited for this product. I hope that Frigondas receives enough funding to mass produce this product. This product definitely has the potential to overthrow the microwave industry. There is one confusion though; all of the sources I can find are from 2017. Frigondas’s latest copyright is also from 2017. Michael Wolf states in his article Titled “Frigondas Wants To Bring Flash Freezing To The Home” “Frigondas, the company, is still a bit of a mystery, but according to their website, they hold two global patents, one related to flash freezing and the other for a combo freezer/heating product. Patents are always important, particularly so if a company wants to license their technology for manufacturing (which the company indicates it wants to do) (Wolf 1).” For all we know they could have dropped the idea, or they are just waiting for the right moment to surprise the microwave companies with a product better than theirs.