this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2026
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Freeze dried food can be rehydrated since it’s intentional and done quickly. Freezer burnt food is mush since it’s slowly drawn out crushing and tearing all the cellular walls along the way.
It’s like saying you can cook pasta by bringing it to 100c in an oven. Yeah the temperature reached what you want it, but is it “cooked”? Or boiling a pizza in a pot of water. Both items have been brought up to a food safe temp, but it’s not “cooked”. Cooking is a specific process, and unique to each process.
For someone “in STEM” you’re wildly off the mark with most of your points. It’s like someone read a brochure and is just belaying the facts without comprehending them.
Just because some items are glazed for protection from damage or other issues, it’s not to protect it from sublimation. In fact the presence of ice crystals can excerbate the issue. It’s a delicate balance to glaze it enough to protect something like the florets, while not providing an avenue for quicker degradation with freeze burn. You’re taking a specific process and applying to blanketly across the board. A little like saying freezer burnt and freeze dried are identical.
Why do you think properly frozen and not moisture inundated food is able to be frozen for a significantly longer time?
And what does “in STEM” even mean? Basic science is part of everyone’s schooling degree, and most also need to take a specialty like biology, physics or chemistry along with it. Some do all 4 as well. It’s like saying I’m “in school”, great, so you’re still learning the basics. What about people who aren’t still learning basics?
My child is in some STEM camps this summer. Is it supposed to be a flex or something?
I didn't see single source supporting your argument. Probably because if you actually look it up (like I did) you'll see sublimation (the mechanism of freeze drying) is the mechanism of action of freezer burn.
I'm not saying what STEM job I have so I don't dox myself, but I went to school for part of this so I'm not completely clueless like you about physical phenomena
I just described how it’s not the same since the end product is different with other examples. Yes it’s the “same mechanism”, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same thing. Try boiling a pizza instead of baking it, it’s the same “mechanic” raising its temperature, but it doesn’t reach the same end goal.
An elevator and escalators both get you up a floor, but they’re entirely different things. You’re still being elevated, the same “mechanism”, but the process is different. It’s an important detail that can’t be ignored.
There’s not one single job you could say that would single you out and dox you. I also never even asked for that anyways? So… okay…?
I’m technically in STEM since my job requires mathematics, it’s just not applicable here or means what you you want it to think it does.
Try rehydrating freezer burnt food, than come back and say it’s the “same thing”, it’s great you can google it though. Experience says that’s not the case though.
What I originally said, supported by the sources I linked earlier especially the seafood one. Also, you're telling me any time you buy frozen berries or fruit brand-new from the store it always has the exact same amount of water crystals on the outside from freezer damage?
Uhhh.. That’s just wrong from the start.
Freezer burn is from contact with unconditioned air, every time you open the door, any small leak, etc. all lead to it. Stocking the shelves, moving it from the truck to truck in distribution centers, etc.
A defrost cycle is just one of the very many things that cause it.
This is the “reading a brochure” and not comprehending how it actually works.
And that’s not how water coating works, it’s just one reasoning, it also helps set it off faster since it’s a starting point. That food may last 6 months instead of 12 with the water coating. The main reason for water coating is to add weight for purchasing. Same reasoning chicken breasts are injected with saline before freezing. It’s to “protect it” but try freezing breasts without the saline, it lasts longer.
The water coating is to maintain its “presentability” for it to sell by the time that reaches its best before time, it doesn’t mean it’s the best practice for freezing stuff longer term. It’s purely for looks and money.
If they are consistent with their process yeah, you can always tell when it’s someone different if you regularly buy it, you can also tell which ones were in the middle and protected by the others, since there’s basically no crystals in those ones.
The ones that are bad you can tell by just feeling them, since they’re all frozen together instead of individual pieces like they should be. Or the crystals are flaking off.
And I don’t know about you, but my brand new store berries aren’t frozen, that’s why you buy them, since they’re fresh and non frozen.