After more than 20 years on the market, Camshelving® has been used in thousands of kitchens across the world. Camshelving has a lifetime guarantee against rust and corrosion and its polypropylene shelf plates contain Camguard®, an antimicrobial technology that inhibits the growth of mold, fungus and bacteria. While Camshelving Premium and Elements Series were originally created to provide sanitary storage for commercial kitchens, walk-ins and freezers, we’ve seen a number of unique uses, much to our surprise and delight. We rounded up the 5 coolest uses for Camshelving that we’ve seen so far:
- Science Experiments
When the University of Nottingham Life Sciences Department started planning a long-term project studying stickleback fish, they chose Camshelving Premium Series to hold their fish tanks. They have eight different rooms full of Camshelving that hold tanks of stickleback fish in different environments. The tanks are extremely heavy and they’re stored in a damp environment, which is why they chose Camshelving. Not only will the surface of the shelving remain unaffected by moisture, one unit of Camshelving Premium Series can hold 2,000 lbs.
- Salami Curing
Who doesn’t love a good charcuterie board? American Butcher is testing mobile Camshelving Premium Series units to cure their salami. Previously, they were using metal sheet pan racks.
“These old speedracks we had…because those sit in an acidic environment, the metal in the wheels starts to rust and corrode and the wheels don’t work well anymore. Moving those things around is a real pain, but [Camshelving] flows in and out of there like its riding on rails,” said Phil Fortson, General Manager at American Butcher in Birmingham, Ala.
“It’s a much better system for us just because [the Cambro] product is very easy to clean, it’s very light. Sanitation is a huge deal in a facility like this. I can unload [the Camshelving] from the room, take them outside of the curing room, foam them, clean them, scrub them, sanitize them and put them back in there. It’s very difficult to do that with metal,” said Fortson.
- Aging Cheese
Talk about a good mooove! Arethusa Farm outfitted their dairy plant with both Camshelving Premium Series and Elements Series units in order to age their cheese. Because Camshelving shelf plates are made with antimicrobial properties and easy-to-clean composite plastic, Matt Benham, Cheesemaker at Arethusa Farm, felt confident aging some of their cheeses directly on the shelving.
“We have an environment with a lot of reasonably corrosive cleaners and then just the cheese environment in general is pretty acidic and pretty salty. I’m often taking cheese out of a big brine tank or cheese that’s been freshly salted and putting it right on the shelving and we found that the Cambro Premium [Camshelving] in particular has held up really, really well to that,” Benham.
“We haven’t had any cheese with product corrosion whereas we were finding that rust and corrosion with the products we were using before.”
- Aging Meat
We’ve seen multiple instances where steakhouses age their meat on Camshelving, sometimes directly on the shelf plates! At Georgia James, located in Houston, Texas, Culinary Director Nick Fine knew they needed shelving that was durable, long-lasting and innovative enough to keep up with their culinary ambitions and upper crust menu.
“This is a whole new experiment for us. We’ll do all kinds of stuff that no one has ever done on [Camshelving], like we have 44 Farms export ribeye…sitting right on [Cambro] shelves,” said Fine.
Restaurant Salt and Char utilizes mobile Camshelving in Chef David Burke’s patented
Himalayan rock salt dry-aging room in Saratoga Springs, New York.
“We love the mobile shelving because it’s very easy to take apart, move around, adjust and clean, especially in the dry age room when we need to break it all down monthly to clean it out,” said Chef Chris Bonnivier.
And aging isn’t just for beef! Mister Jiu’s uses their Camshelving in their dedicated aging and drying fridge for ducks. Hung on bacon hangers and hooked to shelves, the ducks are kept in a walk-in with high velocity fans to increase airflow and a dehumidifier to maintain humidity between 80-85%. The ducks are kept in this condition for 10 to 14 days before they’re cooked for service.
“The most convenient part about using the Camshelving is how easy they are to clean and also how easy it is to configure to our desired usage,” said Chef Mike Long, Sous Chef at Mister Jiu’s.
- Wine and Champagne Storage
Andreas Anagnostopoulos, Director of Operations at Tampa Yacht and Country Club, needed a new way to store champagne and white wine cases. The previous method was inefficient and went against food safety advice.
“We just had cases and cases of wine in cardboard boxes stacked, which as everyone knows, that’s a no-no,” said Anagnostopoulos.
After weighing their options, Anagnostopoulos and his Cambro rep settled on using a combination of Camshelving Premium Series and Angled Drying Racks.
“The champagne bottles fit over the grooves on the shelves which allowed them to remain sturdier and actually allowed us to store more of the champagne bottles that way instead of laying them flat like the other white wine bottles,” said Anagnostopoulos.
“There are anywhere from three to four cases on just one of those shelves. It really allowed us to expand our inventory to allow us to buy in bulk to get a cheaper discount and to provide a better experience and a better value to our membership.”
With Camshelving, the sky is the limit thanks to its durability, sanitary shelves and variety of accessories. If you have a shelving problem that you just can’t seem to find the solution for, contact your local Cambro sales rep for a personalized consultation today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ADRIANA DESIDERIO IS THE DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER AT CAMBRO.
