Freeze Drying Digest

[lomine]

frozen pinacolada there's also recipes out there for margharitas too

I don't drink, but some family members made that connection too after trying it. For me, the fun part was the texture and how it instantly melted into nothing but a few checks of pineapple.

 

[TJAnonymous]

A lot of very useful and helpful information, @WthrLady! Thank you for taking the time to write it all down.

I may never get a freeze dryer, but I keep thinking I'd like to... Hubby is not interested, due to the price, mostly.

Well buying one has created an unexpected quandry for me. We don't have much storage space in this house... My pantry and backup closet are already packed full of food. I have a bunch of things I want to FD and I'm not sure where I'm going to store it afterwards!

 

[WthrLady]

Happy problem.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I've been FDing for a month or two now. Done a few loads. My dog is on a raw diet so some of it was his food for quick/easy travel meals and things for treats (raw chicken wings, pork ribs, thin steaks etc).

So far I've just been experimenting on other things. Various fruits and veggies and some of my homemade goat cheese with seasonings. My personal favorite fruit has been the banana slices from very, almost over ripe bananas. Don't use any that have any green, they leave a weird aftertaste. Family really likes the strawberries and raspberries. Pineapple are really good too.

I've already got too many zucchinis coming out of the greenhouse so I sprinkled them with various spice mixes and FD them. Tried from raw zucchini and roasted; my mom liked from raw but everyone else preferred the roasted.

I did a weird, random thing with pineapple and coconut cream. I put the fresh pineapple with some of the juice in a blender until almost smooth and then added coconut cream. I don't have any measurements, just kind of went for a consistency I though looked good. Put the mixture in silicon ice cube molds and froze. After FD they were very fragile but didn't fall apart. When eaten they just disintegrate and had a lovely tropical flavor. Was a fun and unique eating experience.

One really great tip I learned on a FD Facebook group was to change the default extra dry time from 2 hours to 24 hours. You do it under the customize menu before you start a load. You can't over dry something, so that extra time helps in case something happens and you can't get around to unloading the machine. Then you don't have to worry about rewarming the trays if they aren't done.

I would like to go get some overripe bananas and FD them for our bunny. He's goes bonkers for bananas... Maybe I'll just do an entire fruit run with apples and peaches too. How hard is it to FD sliced pineapple?

I also have some zucchini to do. I was going to try it tomorrow after the corn is done that is in there right now.

 

[WthrLady]

I would like to go get some overripe bananas and FD them for our bunny. He's goes bonkers for bananas... Maybe I'll just do an entire fruit run with apples and peaches too. How hard is it to FD sliced pineapple?

I also have some zucchini to do. I was going to try it tomorrow after the corn is done that is in there right now.

It's easy!. Fresh sliced or sliced or diced in a can in juice, not sugar, drained.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Stopped by Walmart... Picked up some apples, Nectarines, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, broccoli, asparagus, peppers, pineapple, and squash.... All to FD.

Forgot bananas. Dang it.

 

[WthrLady]

You can do meats and eggs no problem, just so they're not dripping in grease fat. Rinse them, freeze them, pop off any extra cold grease and freeze dry.
As for accessories, I got my extra pans from Cabelas, but you have a small, no idea if they carry that size in store or online.
The corner lifts for stacking the trays I got on Amazon, the lids too come to think of it, and the door insulator disk.
The tray separators I got on Etsy.
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The molds I use for anything runny I want to freeze into portion sizes (OC I have the dividers now) or things I have only a small amount of that I want to keep from running into other things until they are frozen in the deep freeze. Like last night I did peas, horseradish, and Sauerkraut. I froze those in the discs, then popped them out onto the trays for freeze-drying.

 

[TJAnonymous]

About to do a bunch of berries...

Using regular cookie sheets to freeze pineapple and Nectarines which I can do tomorrow, after the berries finish.

Sweet corn tastes amazing...

 

[WthrLady]

OK the celery, carrot shreds, peas, and spring onions all came out gang busters.

The horseradish and Sauerkraut did not, but that was my fault.
NOTHING I have put in this mold tray in the deep freeze has come out, it's too dense and the drying process does not get to the center, even AFTER an EXTRA 12 hours of drying.

If I just dumped jars of horseradish or cans of Sauerkraut on the tray, it would have been amazing.
The horseradish was dry and fluffy on the outside of the cubes, but the center, about the size of a nickel was still frozen.
The Sauerkraut was the same, light and fluffy except for that center.
Some times you have to break a few eggs.
Next stinky load I'll do sk and horseradish.

My tray dividers came yesterday, so I'll skip the 1/3 cup square molds. They're just too thick. I've not had a problem with the 1/4 cup, thinner, rounds from hobby lobby.

 

[TJAnonymous]

If this pineapple ever gets around to getting done, I'll give the FD a day of rest before jumping into vegetables. I've got some asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, and cukes to do... I'll probably start with the zucchini and cukes to make some chips.

Assuming all the veggies must be blanched first?