Sleeping sake

Fast-freezing technology company Technician International is working with the food division of Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corporation to offer deep-frozen foods – and sake too.

The TOMIN (“hibernation”) freezing system uses ethanol cooled down to -30°C (-22°F), which chills more rapidly and consistently than air due to liquid having higher thermal conductivity than gas. (Think of a 40°C/104°F bath versus an 80°C/176°F sauna.) The rapid freezing is also designed to quickly pass through the temperature zone where moisture forms ice crystals, which can grow and damage the food if it spends too long in that range. 

Their data shows that a 200 g serving of chuka-don (Chinese-style rice bowl) takes 30 min to cool to +10°C (50°F) and 92 min to bring to -10°C (14°F) with conventional air-blast freezing at -30°C, but the liquid ethanol takes only 9 min to +10°C and 16 min to -10°C.

Speaking in an interview with Shokuhin Shinbun (Food Products Newspaper) Itochu Corporation food division retail headquarters manager Hoshi and section manager Sato talked about their use of the system for sake. Hoshi explains that the system can freeze freshly-pressed unpasteurised sake in the same way as fresh foods such as fruit, so it retains its freshness when defrosted. This has two advantages over conventional freezing, namely that it does not turn sake into a sorbet, and does not risk destroying the bottle as the freezing happens too quickly for the water in the sake to expand. He acknowledges that although demand for sake in general is falling, some specific brands are doing well and this technology adds freshness and the opportunity to buy sake that would otherwise be unavailable.

Sato adds that the novelty value of seeing sake in frozen food shops tempted many people who wouldn’t otherwise consider it, even though the price was relatively high at JPY 1000 (around EUR 6.00/USD 6.40) for a 300 ml bottle. 

The frozen sake is also being served on the rocks at izakaya in Tokyo, again using novelty value to attract people who wouldn’t normally choose sake – and they can then find it at frozen food shops to pick up and drink at home. The company plans to use freezers at their Osaka logistics centre to freeze Nada and Fushimi sake and sell it under the brand TOMIN Toketsushu. The project will start with a gift set of 3 sake and if that goes well they will install freezers at more locations and expand the product lineup and sales channels. Sales from April 2023 to January 2024 were 3000 bottles and they aim to ship 10,000 bottles in the next financial year. 

(Shokuhin Shinbun 24 Apr 2024, Japanese)
Technician International: Features of TOMIN
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Notes

Exporters have always worried about shipping unpasteurised sake, so being able to bundle it with frozen foods may give them a new way to get sake to its destination safely, and same for pasteurised products as well.