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THE next day came around.
My match score in the board game yesterday had been a dismal record of defeats. While I did the chores, I mused that I should use a dice app when we had another board game session. Soon, Kon arrived—but his entrance was unusual today. Instead of running, he walked to the veranda. Instead of wearing a wide smile, he had a conflicted expression on his face as he tilted his head.
Usually, he was the one to address me first with his classic “Incoming!” line, but it was missing today. I took the initiative. “Welcome, Kon,” I greeted him.
“Ah, hi Mikura! I’m here!” he exclaimed, climbing onto the veranda from the garden. He proceeded to the bathroom to wash his hands, then endearingly plopped down on his usual seat in the living room.
I frowned slightly with concern, sitting down across the low table from him with two cups of chilled barley tea I’d just taken out from the fridge. “Hey, is everything all right?”
“Thank you!” Kon exclaimed before reaching out for his cup and taking big gulps of his drink. “Um, there was something bothering me, and I’ve been thinking about it the whole time.”
Raising an eyebrow, I asked, “Something bothering you? Go on, what is it?”
Kon tilted his head quizzically. “Before I left my house, Mommy was cleaning the freezer. She said that she’s gotta stock up on all kinds of things from now on, like ice cream. And then, she found some ice cream from three years ago deep in the freezer that’s been hiding behind other stuff. I got a huge surprise when Mommy opened it and ate it up right away. I mean, it’s been there for three years… Is she going to be okay?”
Ahhh, so that’s what happened. After Kon started hanging out with me, he’d learned about best-before dates. Ever since, he’d started paying attention to them during shopping or cleanup. In fact, searching for the best-before-date label had even become a small game of his. Therefore, in his eyes, he must be extremely bothered by how his mother had eaten ice cream that sounded like it was past its recommended consumption date.
I chose to enlighten him. “The thing is, Kon, ice cream doesn’t actually have an expiry date. As long as they stay frozen properly, you can eat one from three years ago or even ten years ago.”
This information must have piqued his interest, because his big and round eyes became even bigger. Curiosity burned within his orbs as he raised his voice. “Even ten years ago?! Ice cream lasts that long?!”
“Yep, it does.” I nodded. “With meat and fish, you have something called freezer burn. If you leave them frozen in the freezer for a long time, they lose their flavor or texture, but the ingredients used in ice cream means there’s a low chance for freezer burn to ruin it. Of course, it’s a case-by-case thing, but in general, ice cream lasts relatively long.”
“Ohhh! That’s so interesting!” Then, he blinked, as if an idea occurred to him. “Huh? Would that make ice cream a preserve?”
I hummed in thought. “I suppose you could say that they preserve well in the freezer, but it’s pretty rare for people to label them that. But I think it wouldn’t be mistaken to call them preserves. I mentioned the issue with meat and fish earlier, which also happens to vegetables and fruits. If you put in the necessary effort and use the right measures though, you can make them last in the freezer. For example, storing them in the right freezer bags. Lately, you can find frozen food with long expiry dates everywhere on the market. There are also frozen vegetables and frozen fruits available in supermarkets and convenience stores. Have you seen them before?”
“Nope!” For some reason, Kon replied with overflowing confidence in his tone.
Grinning with amusement, I stood up and walked over to the kitchen fridge. From the freezer, I took out a store-bought bag of frozen strawberries. After fetching a small bowl and a spoon, I returned to Kon’s side.
“This is an example of frozen fruit.” I lifted the bag so that he had a good view of it. “You could choose to make them yourself instead of buying them, but it’s said that with frozen fruits, it’s more delicious to make them in commercial freezers with powerful refrigeration. So if possible, I’d recommend buying them. Of course, there are ways to make your frozen homemade fruits tasty as well. If you are particular about where your fruit was produced and whether they were frozen in season, homemade ones will turn out better.”
Carefully, I handed the bag over to Kon. He gripped the chilly bag steadily before thoroughly reading all the text written on the bag: the product name, the list of ingredients, the area of origin, the nutrition facts label, as well as the recommended storage instructions.
Frozen fruits were a different category from ice cream, so there was a clear best-before date printed on it. Naturally, Kon checked it and muttered, “Huuuh…” before placing his hands on the opening of the bag. He looked at me, as if to ask, “Can I open it?”
I smiled and nodded. He proceeded to open the package skillfully, all the way to the edge of the bag. Lifting the bag, he gently rolled the contents into the bowl. “Whoa! They look just like normal strawberries! But they’re frozen stiff!” He sniffed a couple of times with confusion. “It…doesn’t smell that nice though?”
Nodding again, I explained, “Yeah. When frozen, fruits don’t have much of an aroma. And well, it’s not just because it’s frozen. Usually, the type of fruits they use to make frozen fruits are somewhat inferior in taste and rank compared to the delicious ones you find on display in a supermarket. It would be a waste to freeze them, after all—you’ll want to eat the good and fresh ones as they are.
“Because of that, the most important part about frozen food is that they last long, which means that you can enjoy certain food even when it’s not the right season. Taste and aroma come second. Of course, if you use good strawberries, your frozen fruit will also be tastier. But well… This is the compromise most people must make with frozen preserves, including frozen fruit.”
I paused my lecture there, tapped on my phone, and searched up the photos of a few different types of frozen preserves. I showed them to Kon as I continued, “Freezing food is a convenient technique for periods like the New Year, when supermarkets are closed for the holidays. You can also purchase in bulk when certain ingredients are cheap, freeze them, and use them bit by bit whenever necessary. This helps you save money, so as you can see, frozen food has its merits. But unfortunately, it’s completely different from the types of preserves I love—the appeal of frozen food isn’t quite what I’m looking for.
“That said, I have to say it’s a profound art that’s so popular that people even write dedicated books about it.” I shrugged and pulled up even more photos on the Internet. “Anyway, it’s outside the scope of my interests, so I don’t think I’d ever make them at home. I would buy them and have a small collection so that I can eat and cook with them whenever I want to though. Oh, and with frozen fruits, if you eat them half-frozen, they become a cold and refreshing dessert that can taste even better than fresh fruit in summer.”
I picked up one strawberry from the bowl and plopped it into my mouth. I moved my jaw, biting firmly into the slightly thawed, frosty and hard fruit, thoroughly savoring its flavors and texture. The frozen strawberry must have looked appetizing, because Kon also picked up a thawing strawberry with his spoon and carried it into his mouth.
It wasn’t all that sweet or sour. Neither was its fragrance delectable—in fact, it was kind of bland. However, it was cold, and the hard, chunky texture was fun to chew. In the sweltering summer that was right around the corner, nothing was more relieving than this coolness.
…I didn’t know whether Kon thought that far, but he seemed to have taken a liking to his latest endeavor. He moved his mouth vigorously and beamed at me.
If you thought it was too tasteless, you could mix it with yogurt, use it in your homemade desserts, or even put a tiny one on your pancakes as decoration. As I stared absentmindedly at Kon’s smile, I thought, Once the heat starts settling in, I think I could pull up a few recipes with frozen fruits as an accent and entertain him with them.