The invention refers to a method of improving the taste of glazed, frozen and shelless food-stuff products, in particu¬ lar boiled, frozen shellfish or parts thereof, and especially shrimps, and food-stuff products prepared by the method. A great disadvantage of shellfish and similar products resides in the fact that they as perishables are very sensi¬ tive and require quickness and great care in the distribution chain in order to avoid deterioration. They can not be stored for a longer period of time without becoming rapidly dis¬ gusting. Therefore, in most cases they undergo some kind of preservation. Further, most part of the shellfish to be used in restaurants and institutional households is machine- peeled. Unfortunately, the peeling results in that the fine flavourings, which are present in abundance under the shell, also disappear, in connection with the shell being removed. Thus, a machine-peeled shrimp will have a considerably in¬ ferior flavour than a fresh unpeeled shrimp.

A conventional package for machine-peeled seefood is the jar. The peeled shrimps, which most often are the product to be packaged, are then soaked in brine twice, after which step they are packaged in brine in jar. The preparation includes many manual steps and as a result the cost of production is very high, especially since the process requires the use of chemical preservatives for a satisfactory conservation of the product. Frequently other additives are used, such as swel- ling agents in order to increase the volume of the shrimps. This is a serious drawback, since the consumers nowadays are less apt to accept chemical additives. A further disadvantage with this method is the relatively high package and transport costs due to the fact that the package must guarantee that the brine with security will be enclosed in said package. In addition, the product must be transported and stored in the brine, which is required for the conservation but useless for other purposes. The effective net weight is only about half as much as the all-up-weight. Thus, a product with a pro-

longed durability and of present taste is obtained, but which contains undesirable, chemical preservatives at the same time as the price is relatively high.

The most frequently used preservation method for peeled seafood is without no doubt deepfreezing. The boiled shrimps can then directly be frozen for distribution and sale. This method, however, suffers from a major disadvantage in that the shrimps dessicate (freeze drying) . In order to solve this problem, thereby prolonging the durability of the product, very often so called water "glazing" is used. According to this method a thin water film is sprinkled onto the frozen product, the water then being transformed into ice, which forms a thin protecting shell around the product. The method involves a substantial drawback, however, since the water, which appears, when the ice films melts, will remove flavours from the frozen product, resulting in a vapid and wishy-washy taste when ready to eat.

The object of the invention is to provide a method, by means of which the taste of frozen, shelless food-stuff products may be improved at a low and competetive cost, said products having a relatively long durability without any addition of preservatives.

This object is solved in accordance with the invention in that a glazing liquid comprising a flavouring is used. In this way the food-stuff product will obtain an ex¬ cellent aroma when thawed out for consumption and the method can be carried out with small manual efforts, so that a low price can be put on the product.

Conveniently, the glazed products are vacuum packed in a bag, in which they will be thawed out in order to absorb the glazing liquid.

In tests frozen and machine-peeled shrimps were glazed. The glazing liquid was prepared by boiling down small unpeeled shrimps with a first class taste into a turbid juice. If desired, said juice could be additionally flavoured with salt, sugar and dextrose in appropriate dosis. The resulting liquor was stirred and cooled to about -2°C in a vessel.

The machine-peeled and individually frozen shrimps were

kept at a temperature of about -30°C and were fed to a con¬ ventional glazing device. The temperatures mentioned above should be kept as low as possible so that the ice formation is almost instantaneous, when the glazing liquid hits the shrimps. The individually frozen shrimps were fed to the sprinkling device of the glazing apparatus, in which the glazing liquid was sprinkled onto the shrimps. The liquid froze almost immediately after the contact with the shrimps forming a thin ice film around each of the shrimps. The glazing liquid, which did not deposit on the shrimps, was collected and recycled into the circulation circuit and was sprinkled on other shrimps. The glazed shrimps were then vacuum-packed in leak-proof (watertight) bags and after an appropriate period of time they were thawed out in the bags, thus letting them absorb the thawed glazing liquid.

The result was found superb. With small manual efforts shrimps were obtained, which had a normal, neither a limp nor a hard, consistency. Their taste was considered being supe¬ rior to that of conventionally water glazed shrimps and equivalent to the taste of correctly in-brine-packed-shrimps. The above example refers to shrimps but it should be obvious, that any food-stuff similar to shrimps as regards treatment and distribution may be used, e.g. whole shellfish or parts thereof, e.g. parts of lobster, of crab or of crayfish or fish products such as so called crab-fish or crab-sticks etc.

By means of the above disclosed method products having various tastes can be obtained. For example, a substantially concentrated glazing liquor could be used in order to obtain a correspondingly strong aroma of the thawed, ready for use product. By seasoning the glazing liquor in a suitable way, various products can be prepared, which are adapted to the various demands of the market. Thus, for example it would be quite possible to lend a "Norwegian" taste to frozen and peeled, American shrimps.

When applying the method on shrimps it is a great advan¬ tage that small shrimps which normally has little or no commercial value, may be used for achieving the improvement of the taste.