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Some of our best customers are not factories but kitchens: hotel breakfast operations, juice bars, patisseries, catering companies. Over the years they have taught us as much about our product as our own lab has. Here is what they do with it.

1. Sorbet straight from the bag

Frozen mango chunks, a little sugar syrup and a squeeze of lime, blitzed in a food processor, make a sorbet in ninety seconds with no churning. Because the fruit is already at −18 °C, there is no waiting. Strawberry and pomegranate work the same way.

2. Smoothies without ice

Ice dilutes. Frozen fruit chills and thickens at the same time, so the drink tastes of fruit rather than water. Mixed berries plus half a frozen banana is the most-ordered combination among our juice-bar customers.

3. Compotes and coulis on demand

A pan of frozen strawberries, sugar and a splash of water becomes a coulis in ten minutes. Portioning from a 2.5 kg bag means no waste and consistent colour all year.

4. Baking, folded in frozen

Pastry chefs fold IQF berries into muffin and cake batters while still frozen. They hold their shape and do not bleed colour through the crumb. Dust them with a spoon of the flour first.

5. Garnish that lasts

Frozen pomegranate arils scattered over a dessert thaw in minutes on the plate and look freshly opened. Several hotels use them on breakfast buffets because they last far longer than fresh arils under lights.

Frozen at the peak beats fresh from three weeks in a truck. Chefs learned that before the rest of us.

The mistake

Thawing fruit in a bowl at room temperature, then refreezing what is left. Thawed fruit weeps; refrozen fruit turns to mush and, worse, the temperature abuse is a food-safety risk. Take out what you need, close the bag, and put it straight back at −18 °C.