On the topic of keeping frozen food safe: do you know about the penny test? Summer is the time for storms, from thunderstorms to hurricanes. And that usually means power outages. While most outages are over within an hour or two, some can go on for a long time. And, especially if you are away from home for a long period of time, such as on vacation, how do you know if the food in your freezer stayed frozen and safe? The University of California has the solution from preservation notes from San Joaquin Master Food Preservers: the penny. There are different ways that food thawing in the freezer can affect it: one effect is quality, the other is safety. If food is thawed just a bit, then refreezes, it can develop freezer burn. That will not affect the safety of the food, but the … [Read more...]