Refrigeration

Imagine life without ice cream, fresh fruit, ice cold beer or frozen entrees. Imagine having to go to the grocer every day to make sure your food was fresh. Imagine no flowers to send to that special someone or medicines or computers. Hard isn’t it?

Over the last 150 years or so, Chicago refrigeration great strides offered us ways to preserve and cool food, other substances and ourselves. It tore down the barriers of climates and seasons. And while it helped to race up industrial processes, it became an industry itself.

Chicago refrigeration, one of the products of technology’s advancement was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow in 1748. Cullen let ethyl ether boil into a partial vacuum; he did not, however, use the result to any practical purpose. In 1805 an American inventor, Oliver Evans, designed the first refrigeration machine that used vapour instead of liquid. Evans never constructed his machine, but one similar to it was built by an American physician, John Gorrie, in 1844.

By the use of refrigeration many perishable products can be frozen, permitting them to be kept for months and even years with little loss in nutrition or flavor or change in appearance.  Years ago, natural preservatives like salt and ice are commonly used.  Before mechanical systems were introduced, ancient people, including Greeks and Romans, cooled their food with ice transported from the mountains. Wealthy families made use of snow cellars, pits that were dug into the ground and insulated with wood and straw, to store the ice. In this manner, packed snow and ice could be preserved for months. Stored ice was the principal means of refrigeration until the beginning of the 20th century, and it is still used in some areas.

Here are some simple reminders for your refrigerators:

The refrigerator should be set to a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This is low enough to help slow enzymatic processes and the growth of bacteria, but not cold enough to affect food quality by allowing ice crystals to develop. It's a good idea to keep a refrigerator thermometer in the fridge to make sure the temperature is low enough for food safety.

Always cover food in your refrigerator. The air inside your fridge is extremely dry and foods will quickly dry out, lose quality, and become unappetizing in a short period of time if not covered. Covering foods also prevents bland or delicate foods (like dairy products) from acquiring odors from other foods (like cabbage).

Don't overload the refrigerator. There should be enough space between foods that air can freely circulate around them. This way the temperature will be more even throughout the appliance.  Foods that need refrigeration should be placed in the refrigerator within 2 hours after eating to help prevent bacteria growth. If the ambient temperature is more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit that time safety zone shrinks to 1 hour.

At least once every three weeks, wipe down all the interior surfaces with a baking soda solution in your refrigerator. Of course this means removing everything from the refrigerator which means you have to do the cleaning quickly.

Always remember, choosing the right refrigerator will give you less problem ahead.