The primary function of the refrigerator really is about dehumidifying food. The lower temperature also helps food to spoil slower, but that's actually the secondary mechanism that helps to keep food fresh.
One reason why bread goes hard if left open in the fridge.
The primary function of the refrigerator really is about dehumidifying food. The lower temperature also helps food to spoil slower, but that's actually the secondary mechanism that helps to keep food fresh.
One reason why bread goes hard if left open in the fridge.
Aren't you getting it backwards? Cooling is the primary function, and dehumidifier is the secondary required function so the fridge won't be covered with frost.
Fridge operates by blowing cold air produced by the heatsink by combination of gas expansion that sucks heat and blower that circulates said air to the fins where the heat absorbing process occurs. When air gets cold, the water particles in air loses their 'vibration' and thus tends to form clumps. One or two molecules won't create a problem, but hundreds of thousands of millions and you got yourself mist. Mist is, well, essentially air that is saturated with lighter-than-air clumps of water particles, and with the low temperature present in their surrounding, it can lead to frost formation. That's why refrigerators are equipped with dehumidifiers: to prevent frost. But there's also secondary effect from that: removing the water particles from the now-cold air will end up making the air 'dry' (lacks moisture) and it will ended up pulling moisture from the stored items.
If anything, pulling water from any produce is actually a bad idea since they'll end up drying the produce; but the accidental positives (that they also will dehydrate free-floating bacterias/fungis/viruses in process) outweighs the negative.
Nowadays there's fridges equipped with partitions which essentially airproof to put your vegetables and fruits, so their moisture won't be sucked out by the dehumidifier, or even reroutes the mist formed by the cooling process to said compartment to saturate the air with moisture, which is said to prolong the shelf life of said products.
The primary function of the refrigerator really is about dehumidifying food.
This is like saying the primary function of a car is to have a stereo system in it, which was arguably the case for several of my friends in high school, but is not actually true. :)
One reason why bread goes hard if left open in the fridge.
Bread goes stale even in humid environments; this happens because the disorganized starch molecules crystallize over time regardless of dryness. Low temperature accelerates this process, which is the real reason bread shouldn't be refrigerated.
