To combat these problems, a fire-roasting process has become popular. Fire roasting deactivates the peroxidase enzyme in vegetables through a dry-heating process. The high temperature of fire roasting can help to retain color and texture of fresh vegetables and enhances natural fresh vegetable flavors by caramelizing the natural sugars in the vegetable.
Desiree Mettille-Schenkel, executive vice president and co-owner of Haliburton International Corp., explains that “Haliburton has a proprietary fire-roasting process with the highest temperature roasting process in the industry.” When combining the fire-roasting process with cryogenic freezing, the result is individually quick frozen (IQF) fire-roasted vegetables with the crispest textures, brightest colors and the best flavors of any product on the market, she says.