A grocery pint warms slightly, then freezes again. Why do small crystals vanish?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: They feed larger crystals
New tiny crystals form — Not quite. A fresh population of tiny crystals is what fast factory freezing tries to encourage. In a warmed grocery pint, the system usually has many surviving crystal surfaces already available. The melted water takes the easier path and deposits on those larger survivors.
They feed larger crystals ✓ — Right. Small crystals have more surface energy and are easier to lose during warming. On cooling, the water usually does not renucleate into thousands of fresh tiny crystals; it deposits on surviving larger crystals. That is why repeated small temperature swings can make a pint worse even if it never fully melts. The freezer did not add ice; it rearranged ice into a coarser architecture.
Syrup locks crystals apart — Not quite. A thick syrup phase can slow water movement, which is why stabilizers and solids matter. But syrup alone does not permanently wall off every crystal during temperature swings. Heat shock still lets small crystals melt and lets larger crystals grow, especially when the product warms and cools repeatedly.
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