How long can you freeze fish?

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How long you can freeze fish depends on several factors. For this reason, you should differentiate between frozen and fresh goods when shopping. When frozen food is offered, you must be able to rely on the retailer's instructions without knowing for sure how the fish was frozen. You can freeze fresh fish properly yourself.

A fresh fish is easy to freeze

  • A fresh fish provides the human organism with many important nutrients, such as B. Protein, minerals such as iodine and vitamins. If fresh fish is frozen properly, it can be frozen for between 2 - 5 months, depending on the type of fish. The decisive factor is the fat content of the fish.
  • You do not get every type of fish as fresh produce at all times. Regardless of whether you want flounder, crabs, saithe or other marine animals, you are dependent on the appropriate fishing season. However, proper frozen food is a good alternative in this case.
  • In principle, deep-frozen fish is just as rich in nutrients as fresh fish, if it has been properly gutted, cleaned and flash-frozen after it has been caught. Lots of fish are in front of the Freeze filleted. Therefore, always observe the dealer information regarding the packaging, catch and best-before date, as well as perfect packaging.
  • Some vendors do not sell frozen fish in vacuum packaging. In that case, it is especially important that it has been flash frozen properly. In view of the German food law, you have to be able to assume this. However, the packaging could have been damaged during transport. So be sure to check it out.
  • If you have a choice between a vacuum-packed fish and a simple bag-pack, you should prefer vacuum-packing. Oxygen basically accelerates the breakdown processes and the vacuum packaging has been deprived of oxygen.
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  • How long you can freeze fish depends, among other things, on its fat content. When freezing, you should therefore differentiate between fatty fish (salmon, Herring, mackerel and eel contain a lot of valuable omega-3 fatty acids) and lean fish (flounder, saithe, pikeperch, haddock).
  • A properly frozen, fatty fish can be frozen at -18 ° C for about two months, a lean fish for up to 5 months.

Check the fish for freshness

  • At markets you can get fresh fish that you can freeze yourself. However, you never know how long the fish has been stored at the dealer. That is why it is always an advantage to buy the fish from a trusted dealer. Nevertheless, you should take a good look at the fish. A fresh fish has plump, clear eyes, while the eyes of a fish that has been stored for a long time appear more milky, cloudy and sunken.
  • Check whether the fish has a shiny metallic skin, because this is what distinguishes a fresh fish, among other things. Check for flaking. The fish must have a firm scale structure with no evidence of injuries or bruises. If the scales come off easily, the fish has been stored for a long time.
  • If you buy a whole fish, it has to be in places where there is blood, such as B. The abdominal cavity and gills glow reddish. Gray-brown gills indicate a longer storage time.
  • Sniff the fish. Fresh fish always brings a little "sea scent" with it, which smells of algae, salt and iodine. Fish that smell like "fish" have been in storage for a long time. You can also recognize fresh "fish fillet" by the characteristics "shiny silver skin, fresh and juicy appearance, smell of the sea". Buy only fresh fish for freezing and freeze it ASAP.

Do not leave fish for a long time

If you're shopping for fresh fish that you want to freeze, it pays to use a cooler bag. Cold reduces metabolic reactions and the formation of microorganisms.

  1. Set your freezer to "shock freeze" and later to -18 ° degrees, because then you can be sure that the formation of microorganisms has stopped.
  2. Clean the fish, take it out well, fill it in.
  3. Rinse it thoroughly under cold running water water.

Freeze the fish properly

Now pay attention to an airtight packaging. You have two options for this: Either you remove the air from the freezer bag with a household vacuum device, or you wrap the fish / fish fillet in cling film as follows:

  1. Lay out the cling film flat to place the fish in the middle.
  2. Fold over the first side of the film and, starting from the center of the fish, brush out the air.
  3. Now fold over the second page and brush out the air again.
  4. Proceed in the same way with both protruding foil sides.
  5. Check that the packaging is undamaged, "vacuum-like", tight but not constricting, because it must prevent it from drying out and preserve the aroma. Above all, the packaging must protect against freezer burn.
  6. Now freeze the fish under "shock freeze" and later set the freezer to -18 ° degrees

Tip: If you want to thaw the fish later, you should leave it overnight in the refrigerator Let it thaw to prepare the next day. You can store raw fish in the refrigerator for a maximum of one day!

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