Ice nucleation activity

Encouraging ice crystals to form rather than remaining liquid below freezing point. Small particles — food particles, for example — and large molecules like the ice-nucleating proteins of certain bacteria can do this. The phenomenon matters in frozen-food quality, where uncontrolled nucleation means large crystals and damaged texture, and in frost-damage studies of crops, where bacterial ice-nucleating proteins trigger freezing injury. Food scientists both encourage controlled nucleation — for fine crystal structure — and seek to suppress unwanted nucleation in sensitive products.