Does anyone really know the lifespan of an avocado? It feels like one minute it’s hard as a rock and then the next it’s mushy and too ripe.  If you’re a fan of avocados and haven’t nailed down the ripeness timing, freezing them can be a great way to extend the shelf-life of food, but, the quality post-thawing is sometimes inferior. Scientists Yamei Jin and Zhengjun Xie from Jiangnan University in China may have found an answer: adding a magnetic field in the freezing process.  Freezing With a Magnetic Field  The team theorized that external fields may have the potential to improve the quality of food after freeze-thawing. This isn’t a revolutionary idea — other studies are being done using non-conventional freezing techniques such as electric field, electromagnetic wave, an ultrasonic wave, as well as pulsed electric field plus oscillating magnetic field. Samples of blended avocado (puree) were put in 25ml beakers covered with plastic film and frozen in 1D, 2D, and 3D magnetic fields until their temperature reached -18 degrees C. Then, they were thawed at 10 degrees C until their temperature reached 8 degrees C and had their properties compared with those of avocado puree frozen with no magnetic field. The things that were compared included: freezing parameters, pH value, moisture content, soluble solids content, antioxidant activity, and color difference. For this experiment, the team applied a uniform and multi-directional oscillating magnetic field during the freezing process as well as an experimental batch air-blast freezer which included a magnetic-field generator, fan, control panel, freezing chamber, and refrigeration unit.  What They Found Their main conclusion was that applying external fields during the freezing process can reduce the size of ice crystals to protect the cells or tissues from freezing damage. Under the magnetic field, the freezing point of avocado puree was decreased from -1.2 to -6 degrees C — meaning, the oscillating magnetic field produced a weak molecular current that significantly decreased the freezing point of the puree. Enzymatic browning was inhibited as well since smaller ice crystals prevented enzymes from degrading the pigment molecules. They also found that when using the 3D field, the puree had higher pH value, higher moisture content, and greater antioxidant activity. Color, firmness, and spreadability remained much more similar to fresh puree prior to freezing than in traditional freezing alone.  Overall, Yamei Jin and Zhengjun Xie’s study showed it’s possible to enhance some of the quality of frozen avocado puree using a magnetic field. So, we might not have to deal with overly ripe avocados in the future! You can read their entire study here.  Discover More With Apex Magnets Today For more updates on all things magnetic, head to our blog or sign up for our monthly newsletter.