We consider these to be one of the most useful pieces of equipment available and supply them to many smaller establishments that do not even use cook-chill.

When considering a blast chiller, be aware that they are not sized in terms of cubic storage capacity. They are based around the government guidelines for cook-chill schemes which require that (subject to food density & portion size) the food should be chilled from +70C to +3C within 90 minutes. Hence a blast chiller is usually described as (for example) a 20kg machine rather than a 10 cubic ft machine.

Many machines also offer a quick freeze facility which is useful and some also offer the facility for the chilling time to be decided by a food probe placed in the middle of the product rather than a timer.

There are some machines available that are described as ‘quick chill’ units. In our experience this often means that they will not chill from +70C to +3C within the 90 minute interval and we treat them with caution.