No longer limited to simple ingredients for miso soup and cup noodles, freeze-dried food products keep increasing in variety.Food producer Amano Jitsugyo Co. announced Feb. 16 the launch of instant curry product Kaoru Yasai Kare (good-smelling vegetable curry) in March. Just add hot water and wait 10 seconds to prepare a curry with the smell of authentic spices.
Freeze-drying is a process used primarily for preserving perishable materials. It works by freezing the material and then reducing the surrounding pressure to allow the frozen water in the material to sublimate directly from the solid phase to the gas phase.
It is mainly used in food products to facilitate transport. It is also a good method to restore food and to preserve food products.
Amano Jitsugyo has been dealing in freeze-dried foods since 1968. The first curry product under the method was brought out in 2009. Sales of freeze-dried curry products reached 800,000 packets in 2011, and the company aims to sell some 1.2 million packets this year.
“Visibility of our brand is still low,” said Nobukazu Yoshioka, president of Amano Jitsugyo. “Once customers taste our product, however, they will recognize the quality of our brand.”
Ezaki Glico Co. will launch its Curry Pot series, another freeze-dried product, on Feb. 21 in the Kanto region.
via AJW
