Frozen storage is a useful alternative for the long-term preser-
vation of fruits (Guseinova & Daudova, 2008; Li & Sun, 2002b;
Martinez, 1995) and acts by slowing down microbial growth
(Archer, 2004; Niemira, Sommers,
& Boyd, 2003) and enzymatic
damage (Duden & Hubner, 1981). There have been few studies on
frozen stored litchi fruits, and rapid browning remains a major
problem (Jiang et al., 2004). Due to the slow freezing rates using air
as a coolant in traditional air-blast freezing (AF) systems, severedamage to fruit microstructure and tissues are often observed as
large ice crystals form and grow in AF foods during long-term
storage (Wu, Orikasa, Tokuyasu, Shiina, & Tagawa, 2009). As a
result, quality degradation including color changes, drip loss, soft-
ening and nutrient loss are inevitable (Chassagne-Berces et al.,
2009; Ngapo, Babare, Reynolds, & Mawson, 1999a; Taira, Ono, &
Otsuki, 1998). Additionally, recrystallization which is sensitive to
initial grain size (Aleong, Frochot, & Goff, 2008; Lv, Liu, Li, &
Jaganathan, 2014), could cause further damage to fruit tissues
(Knight, Hallett, & De Vries, 1988; Martino & Zaritzky, 1989).
Improving freezing rates could provide an effective solution to this
problem (Li & Sun, 2002b; Santesteban, Miranda, & Royo, 2013; Sun
& Li, 2003).