The team of scientists says they’ve replicated in the freezer what happens in nature—when plants freeze in winter and thaw crisp and green in spring. Natural freezing and thawing succeeds because plants accumulate substances like sugars and proteins, which keep the cells alive. And your typical bag of defrosted vegetables is so soggy because the thawing process destroys the cells, says Federico Gomez, associate professor of food technology at the Lund University and one of the team’s researchers. Normally, frozen food isn’t treated before freezing. But to give the freezer a little help, his team submerged spinach in a sugar solution, vacuumed out the air from the plant tissue, and applied electric pulses to push the solution inside the cells. MORE: This Is Your Body On Coffee (infographic) “We chose the worst possible situations to see if we could really succeed,” Gomez says. And they did, with some of their subjects: After pre-treating strawberries and spinach, freezing them, and then thawing them, the delicate produce remained just as plump as fresh. Gomez hopes that one day, farmers will treat and freeze vegetables during their short harvest times, then thaw them and sell them like they do fresh. “We could decrease imports and eat local vegetables for a longer time,” he says. Not to mention the possibilities for frozen food companies, several of which Gomez says have already approached him. (One hopes to add a leafy green veggie to its frozen meat sandwiches.) Here’s to someday soon chowing down on a nice, crisp salad—fresh from the freezer. MORE: The Cleanest Packaged Foods You Can Buy
