Contrasting effects of high-pressure-assisted freezing and conventional air-freezing on eggplant tissue microstructure

 Damage to the microstructure of eggplants frozen by conventional air-freezing methods and by a high-pressure-assisted freezing method is compared in this paper. When conventional air-freezing techniques are employed, damage to the microstructure is enhanced as the freezing rate diminishes and the sample volume increases. However, when high-pressure-assisted freezing is applied, bulk nucleation occurs simultaneously in the whole sample, and the observed damage is less dependent on the volume of the sample. Received: 8 April 1997 / Revised version: 24 November 1997