Cryoconcentration for improved flavour

Cryoconcentration is a relatively new food technology which consists in transforming milk, fruit or vegetable juices into a sorbet, before removing water ice crystals in order to obtain a highly flavoured concentrate.

A natural form of cryoconcentration has been used in Quebec by La Face Cachée de la Pomme in order to produce a uniquely concentrated form of cider from fruit juice frozen thanks to January outdoor temperatures (http://appleicewine.com/cryoconcentration_en.html).

In 2008, two scientists at the Department of Food Engineering, Laval University, Quebec, Canada prepared apricot and cherry juices successfully thanks to cryoconcentration. Two freezing temperatures (around -10 and -20°C) and three crycoconcentration stages were studied. Freezing temperature didn’t show any effect on the total dry matter content of the juices or on their physico-chemical properties, whereas the cryoconcentration stages showed great increases in the total dry amount content and improvements to the juice qualities: total dry matter content of apricot juice increased from around 14.5 g/100g up to around 45.5g/100g. Juices had comparatively high vitamin C content and aroma numbers increased from 3.55 to 8.38 for apricot and from 5.23 to 15.75 for cherry juices (http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/5738/1/NPR%207%286%29%20502-506.pdf).

The technology is already used by Fleury Michon’s Chef, Joël Robuchon, in order to produce granité de sake (iced sake) without having to evaporate any of the alcohol in the process (http://www.processalimentaire.com/Procedes/Cryoconcentration-et-compression-au-menu-de-la-cuisine-de-demain-7518). The technology should also have an influence on ready-made meals as it provides great flavour and juice quality improvements in meat cooking, for example, almost making the use of sauces unnecessary (http://www.agro-media.fr/actualit%C3%A9/recherche-innovation/immanquable-les-tendances-pour-l%E2%80%99alimentation-de-demain).