I keep Avocados on my shelf for years like this… It still tastes FRESH!
A few weeks ago a friend of mine told me About the most amazing thing that you Can put into your freeze dryer thanks Beth because this one is a game changer You guys I was really skeptical at first But now I'm a Believer this is amazing Let's check it out Here in North Idaho we can't grow Avocados but that does not mean that we Don't absolutely love to eat them so Every time I go to the grocery store I Keep an eye out on avocados and watch For when they go on sale because now They can sit in the pantry and get used As the ultimate snack freeze drying is One of those things that is so Incredibly easy and it really reduces The amount of work or the prep steps That are required before you can get Started this is a really really easy Project I've gone ahead and taken a Bunch of the avocados that I got on a Super good sale at the grocery store and I chopped up some of them and then just Tossed them with a little bit of lime Now you can see some of them are a Little bit Brown that's just because Some are a little bit over ripe putting The lime on them will help to stop any Additional Browning you could certainly To use lemon if you wanted or even a Citric acid wash but I love the flavor Of lime with avocados so that's what I Went with these go straight just like
This into the freeze dryer For the rest of the avocados that I got At such a great deal at the market I've Just gone ahead and scooped them right Out of their skin and given them a Really quick light Mash nothing fancy You could blend this if you want a Really smooth guacamole but for me I Like it just a little bit chunky now Again we don't want it all turning brown Which it will do if you don't put any of The citric acid or lemon or lime on it And I like that flavor of lime so I just Go ahead and take this and just squeeze That lime right over the top Just get a good amount there I'll Probably put about two limes worth in Here Just to make sure there's a good amount Of lime through the whole thing And then Stir It Up mix it up and it Will be good to go now if you wanted to You could make up Whatever you wanted your guacamole to be If you want to add tomatoes right now Fresh tomatoes onions any of those Things go for it season it with whatever You want to season it with you can also Just do the avocados right now with a Little bit of lime in them and then Season them later add the other things Later that'll work great too let's test That I think it needs just a little bit more
Lime to keep it from browning it should Just have a little tiny bit of a Tang to It Probably know if you've been following Along with me that I am absolutely Loving my freeze dryer in fact I've Loved it so much that I went ahead and I Bought a second one because I didn't Want to have to choose from all the Different things I could be freeze Drying at the same time right during Harvest season when we have a lot coming In and both of those machines have spent A majority of the Year running around The clock we just absolutely love it and This makes me love it even more All I'm Gonna do from this place is go ahead and Just scoop it right onto a tray now I Have one of these Silpat liners silicone Liners here on the tray it just makes it A little easier to get it off at the end And to clean it all up you don't have to Do that Do you see how easy this project is it Just it doesn't get any harder than this And that is what I love about freeze Drying is it is so fast and so simple Compared to something like canning which Yes I do and I love This is just fast but for something like Avocados You really don't have any other great Preservation method you're just not Going to get the same results as
Something that essentially Tastes completely fresh now just like Anything the thinner layer you make it The faster it's going to freeze dry you Really don't want anything of this Texture though I'm sticking up too far Above the tray level the edge of the Tray because it will end up rubbing on The bottom of the tray the shelf above It in your freeze dryer and making a bit Of a mess okay if I had a spatula here I would just scrape this out and get it All on here but instead I'm going to Call the rest of this my snack as soon As I'm done filming now we're just going To stick this straight into the freeze Dryer along with those chopped up Avocados when I was at the grocery store Getting the avocados I saw that they had Pre-prepared guacamole now I don't tend To buy it but it did make me wonder how Would that turn out if I took that home And freeze dried it so I went ahead and Got two of them just kind of from the Deli section and I brought it home And I thought let's just dump it on There and see what happens This definitely has a lot more Ingredients in it than anything I would Normally make It looks good I don't think it smells as Good as my homemade avocado Mush and then I'm just gonna stick that Right inside the freeze dryer also
Usually when I want Guacamole for the family we're yeah we Might be having chips and salsa and Guacamole would be nice but oftentimes We're having taco night or some sort of Mexican food so I thought I'd go ahead And just throw in some other things that I might use one is chopped cilantro this Freeze dries so well I had a whole bunch From the garden this year but we've Already used it up because it is amazing So I went ahead and bought a little Extra to get a little bit more on the Shelf to get us through the year it Looks like next year I'm gonna have to Grow more cilantro this just is washed Dried a little bit and chopped And I just laid it out on a tray and put It straight on into the freeze dryer Same things with these limes limes were On a great sale right at the grocery Store too today so this was a really Good deal I just went ahead and wedged Them up and put them out on a tray Believe it or not they reconstitute into Two amazing lime slice that you can get The lime juice out of same thing though We just slide it right on in Now that we have everything into the Freeze dryer we're ready to go ahead and Turn the machine on that's really simple We're just going to hit the start button And then it's going to ask us if it's Pre-frozen or not frozen we didn't
Pre-freeze this we're just starting it From fresh non-frozen so we're going to Hit the not frozen button Hit continue And you're done isn't that amazing we're Ready to let the machine do its work now And we'll come back in a little bit to Show you what the finished product looks Like all right the freeze dryer has been Running for about 24 to 26 hours here And it says it's ready to go so I'm Going to go ahead and hit the warm tray Button right now that helps to bring That temperature of the trays up just a Little bit so you don't get condensation And moisture right back into your Freeze-dried food so that's going to Take about 15 minutes to warm those Trays up right now they're at negative 38 degrees Celsius so we want to bring That up closer to about room temperature [Music] The trays have warmed up so I'm going to Go ahead and push the defrost button on The machine and it says go ahead oh and We've got to release the vacuum seal [Music] That had a really strong vacuum in it so I couldn't have opened it while that was Still going so now I can go ahead and Open this Let's take a look at what we have Here are the limes Oh and look at the cilantro doesn't that
Look good it almost looks completely Fresh it's one of the things I love About freeze drying This is the store-bought guacamole Look at that here's our homemade and Here are those chunked avocados they Almost look exactly like they look when We put them in obviously I'm not freeze Drying things just to eat them right Away freeze drying is a type of Preservation so I want to go ahead and Get these into storage so that I can Pull them out later but then in just a Minute I'm going to show you how we Rehydrate each of these things and get To eat them for me I like to put them in A large jar and then just vacuum seal Them down that's my preference I love Getting to see what is inside the jar if I was trying to store these for you know 20 years or something like that I'd Probably want to put them in mylar bags Or something that wasn't clear but for Us we're really just freeze drying to be Able to eat them within the next year It's just a way of filling our pantry With great finds whether that's from Sales at the grocery store or things at The farmers market or most of the time Just things that we're growing out in The garden you can see these are Completely dry they're kind of a almost A styrofoam type of texture here And I'm just going to put these right
Into the jar this is a half gallon jar The size really does not make a Difference Just whatever's going to hold what you Have then I'm going to go ahead and Vacuum seal this you can see that I am Using used canning lids I love this Because we're just using this for Storage we're not going to can with this So I can just use whatever I have laying Around as long as it's not damaged which Means that I can use this for vacuum Sealing this one said fancy lard 22. No longer lard to use a vacuum sealer You use the attachment that comes with It this is a jar attachment I'm just going to push that right on Down and I have this great little hand Held vacuum sealer and it just pops Right in here this is all from FoodSaver And this is the one that I've used for Years I think that there's other brands Out there this is the only one I've ever Used just push the button And it just pulls the air right on out Of that jar and creates that vacuum Inside the jar Pull off the attachment and here you can See I have a completely sealed jar There's no movement in the lid and this Is just ready to go on the shelf for When I need it let's look at the Guacamole Now look at this it's formed in a solid
Sheet which is great I'm just going to Break it up a little bit if you want Your guacamole really smooth you could Literally stick this into a blender or Food processor and just process it until It is completely smooth [Music] [Applause] And same thing with this one just gonna Put it in the jar [Music] Foreign [Music] Now I have all the goodies that I need For taco night ready to go sit on my Shelf so these are vacuum sealed they Are totally shelf stable at this point So they can go sit on your Pantry Shelf Like everything it's best if you keep it At a direct sunlight to protect the Nutrients in there but these will last For several years very nicely on the Shelf they like to say that the food Will last for up to 25 years with some Huge amount of its nutritional Density still intact but because Avocados are so rich in fat they're not Going to last nearly that long so it's Really best practice if you just go Ahead keep them rotated in and out of Your pantry probably on a yearly or Every other year basis but these are Ready to go isn't that amazing it's such An easy process and now let's see how to
Use them reconstituting freeze-dried Food can be kind of where the trick is Of successfully using freeze-dried fruit In place of fresh food so let's take a Look at it if you guys can find one of These prilids I don't think they're even Being manufactured anymore but if you Know somebody in manufacturing who wants To start making these things they are Absolutely amazing I had to go find a Vintage one to be able to find one to Use but they can open these Lids without Any denting which makes them Kind of indefinitely reusable Now for something like the avocado Pieces you can just eat these as a Phenomenal snack freeze-dried like this Not reconstituted as soon as you put Them in their your mouth they kind of Just melt they're so good [Music] Especially with that little bit of lime And you could put a little bit of salt On these at before they're freeze-dried So good but if you want to make an Avocado toast or something like that out Of them and you want them chunky you do Want to rehydrate them just a little bit And this can be done You just have to be really careful about How much water you're adding into them This is where something like a little Spray bottle would come in really handy I'm going to re-vacuum seal that when
I'm ready to put it back on the Shelf But I don't have a little spray bottle Handy so I'm just going to use a real Light spoon full of water just think About how much liquid you think an Avocado actually has that's how you're Measuring it back in And just be conservative then I'm just Going to set that aside and let it go Ahead and suck up that moisture for just A few minutes and see where we're at Let's take a look at the cilantro now Cilantro as an herb I can't say it's going to rehydrate into Perfect shape when you're talking about A fresh herb like cilantro basil mint Some of those herbs that just really Need to be fresh to have their ultimate Like power kick they freeze dries dry Amazingly and the flavor is still great [Music] Tastes just like cilantro but if you put These into a bowl and go to reconstitute Them they're not quite as nice as a Fresh herb would be they're going to Reconstitute almost instantly but for The most part I like to just keep these Dry and sprinkle them on if I'm going to Use them raw now if you want to cook With them then that is no problem you Just stick them right into whatever You're cooking you don't even have to Rehydrate them first so these are going To rehydrate really quickly
But they're gonna get kind of mushy kind Of freezery Now let's look at the limes These are phenomenal if you want limes On hand this is a great way to go and if You want to make a phenomenal amazing Lime powder for baked goods think lime Cookies This is what you do and then just throw Them in a blender or food processor and Powder them up they are amazing but What's really cool about them is you can Go ahead and reconstitute them and Actually get the lime juice back out I Love this but the best thing that I have Found for limes is not to try to put Them in a bowl but rather just to dip Them into water so I'm just going to Take this one I'm just going to dip it In for about five seconds Pull it out and I'm going to let it sit There I might need one more Treatment to get it fully rehydrated Before we look at the guacamole let's Check out these Avocado chunks They are still a little bit hard they Still need a little bit more time and a Little bit more water so you see you can Just test them and then go yeah let's Add a little more water no problem The smaller the chunks the faster They'll rehydrate also and take a look At the cilantro there you can see what I
Mean like it just kind of gets wilted Looking this I would really recommend to Just go ahead and serve raw at the table Especially if you're going to just put Them over tacos or on tacos if you're Going to use them as an ingredient in Something just throw them in Non-rehydrated and they will rehydrate With the liquid of whatever you're Cooking or using and that's the better Way to go with these but They smell really good they smell like Fresh cilantro All right these have been sitting for About another five minutes and they're Starting to look ready to go and you can See with that lime juice poured over Them right at the beginning it's really Helped to hold their color if you Remember these were just a little bit Over ripe that's why we had a little Browning to begin with but look at that Beautiful Green Let's test it you can See here it is soft all the way through You could mush this if you wanted like a You know puree or something or you could Leave it in its chunk form It tastes just like avocado just like a Fresh avocado That is absolutely delicious oh so easy You could put this right over avocado Toast onto your tacos onto to tostadas Into your salad just reconstitute it and Drop it right into your salad it would
Be amazing okay let's look at this lime And you can see this is now pretty Nicely reconstituted it has a little bit Of stiffer Parts here so we could Probably dip it one more time and let it Sit but let's take a look at squeezing It Even like this look at all that liquid I'm getting out of it [Music] Sour that is so limey oh my goodness That is just like fresh lime Absolutely amazing you could use that For anything whether it's squeezing over Fish Tacos or just sticking in your water for A nice something to drink that would be Absolutely delicious and you can Completely do that with lemon with Oranges any of the Citrus rehydrates Beautifully it is absolutely amazing Okay let's look at the guacamole Just like everything else we just want To get these into a vessel This is the homemade from the full Avocados And this is that store-bought guacamole That I got [Music] The trick to this again is not to put Too much water into it Foreign Now you don't always have to Reconstitute with water so some things
Are amazing if you reconstitute them With a different liquid that has its own Flavor for this if you like really Tangy Guacamole you could definitely Reconstitute this with a little bit of Lime in there maybe just part lime and Part water get that in we're just going To Stir It Up and you can see it Reconstitutes really really quickly you Can have a lot of control over what the Texture of this is if you want it Thicker you can put in less water you Could make a actual avocado sauce by Just adding a little bit more water in There let's try it Hmm That lime's coming through you could use A little bit more salt but oh look at That ready to go and you could not in Any way tell that that is not just fresh Avocado Wow okay let's try the store-bought Mix it all the way up so there's no dry Spot Not my homemade recipe but this is Really good you could totally do this if You walk by your refrigerator section in Your grocery store and they've got Guacamole on sale This might be worth it this is really Good hey if you guys want to know what Else you can do with your freeze dryer Check out this video right here whoo
