PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thawing method preventing the breakage of cell membrane and the occurrence of drips in thawing a frozen food, and free from lowering a quality after thawing the frozen food.SOLUTION: Sherbet ice using saline water is used as a thawing medium for releasing heat from a frozen food so as to lower a temperature of the thawing medium to the vicinity of an icing point level of the frozen food and minimize the temperature difference, and much more fine ice is subjected to contact heat exchange with the frozen food by adjusting an ice concentration in the sherbet ice so as to increase a heat exchange speed and inhibit coarsening of intracellular ice crystals during thawing. With this, there is achieved high quality thawing which has a short thawing time and extremely less drip generation, at a temperature level where food poisoning bacterium propagation is not generated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3【課題】凍結食品の解凍時、細胞膜の破壊、ドリップの発生、冷凍食品の解凍後品質を低下させない解凍方法を提供。【解決手段】凍結食品から熱を奪う解凍媒体として塩水を使ったシャーベット氷を使用することで、解凍媒体の温度を凍結食品の氷結点レベル付近まで下げてその温度差を最小化し、かつシャーベット氷の氷濃度を調整してより多くの微細氷を凍結食品と接触熱交換させるようにして熱交換速度を高めて解凍中の細胞内氷結晶の粗大化を阻止するようにした。このため解凍時間が早く、ドリップ発生のきわめて少なく、かつ食中毒菌繁殖の起きない温度レベルでの高品質解凍を実現した。【選択図】図３
