January 13, 2016 - 11:23am
Thawing Frozen rhubarb under warm running water
Hello, I work in a bakery that specializes in baking pies. We make a lot of raspberry and strawberry rhubarb pies so we go through a LOT of rhubarb, Sometimes we have to use rhubarb from the freezer in order to make our berry/rhubarb fillings. My question has to do with fast tracking the thawing process. If I thaw the frozen rhubarb under running warm water (in a colander) therefore melting the ice but still leaving the rhubarb cold to the touch, then immediately baking some of it off and placing the rest in the fridge. Will any part of this process be unsafe as far as harbouring the growth of bacteria ?
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given that you work in a commercial bakery, surely, there are authorized food safety guidelines to be followed. Most of us are home bakers, so not in a position to offer overriding advice.
We would, though, love to see your products and hear about the bakery and its clientele.
All the best,
Cathy
(the part about food safety guidelines), how would your proposed procedure differ from your current procedure for thawing the rhubarb? If you routinely thaw by moving frozen rhubarb to a refrigerator and allowing it to thaw there, then the latter part of your proposed process is identical.
The warm water approach offers two potential risks. First, will the rhubarb temperature and time at temperature exceed your local health requirements? If not, you should be able to proceed without worrying about providing a favorable environment for infectious bacteria that might already be present on the rhubarb. Second, can you ensure that the rhubarb will not be exposed to new contaminants during the rinse? If it is protected from splashes from other surfaces, you should be alright.
Going back to Cathy's comment, make sure that you understand your local jurisdiction's requirements since they will trump suggestions you receive here.
Paul
Thanks for the replies. I am very familiar with my provinces safety regulations (I'm Canadian). Before posting my question I was 100% confident that my proposed process was very safe. The Rhubarb only takes 5 minutes to thaw from a frozen state to a state where it can be drained of excess water and immediately used for baking. The temperature of the remaining rhubarb is still low enough that it would be reduced to the acceptable temperature within a very short time after being placed into the refrigerator.
My real problem is trying to explain this to my manager who doesn't seem to be as familiar with the conditions in which bacteria grows.
My hope for the post was for other professionals to show me where I am wrong, so that when I go to management with my argument my bases are covered.
FYI: We'd be using cold water to defrost and the fruit would be in a bag. That way the outside would stay colder and not get too far into the danger zone... It might take a little longer though.
Can't you bake from frozen though?
-Gordon
why does it matter if the rhubarb is in the danger zone if its only for a short period of time? bacteria needs three conditions to grow, Moisture, Temperature and Time. If the rhubarb is only thawing under warm water for a handful of minutes, then refrigerated, it doesn't meet the time requirement to grow bacteria.
we currently do put large bags of rhubarb into a sink full of cold water, but like you said it takes longer, apox 8 hours for SOME of the rhubarb to thaw.
baking from frozen is a problem because we cant remove the frozen water from the rhubarb which causes the pies to have a lot more moisture in the filling, its a lot harder to know how much starch needs to be in the fruit mix.