The Magic of Freeze Drying at Home – So Many Options
We quit recording the video a while ago I’m just sitting here eating these this Is a bell pepper it’s phenomenal So if you guys follow the channel you’ve Seen the last few days I’ve been Visiting a friend named Waldo and we’ve Been doing some tractor and chainsaw Videos together And as I was getting ready to leave He told me that his wife has a freeze Drying business And I I’m familiar with the idea of Freeze-dried meals and I thought that Was really Interesting but turns out you can do a Lot more with it and after they showed Me what they’ve got going on I decided To go ahead and make a video because I Thought you guys might find it Interesting too Hey it’s Brock here with Rock Hill Farms And I’m here with Jana who’s going to Tell me a little bit about freeze Drawing because I’m aware that freeze Drying is a thing but I really just Don’t know much about it so I guess to Start with we’ve got a wide selection of Freeze-dried products here Um let’s kind of maybe show them some of What we have here this one you were just Telling me it’s hominy that’s how many Yes And they’ve got candy and fruit and Stuff that sounds delicious and is but
Some of the stuff I didn’t think would Be actually is so I’ll let you show them If you want a little bit of what we’ve Got here So we’ve got things from pretty fun Pineapple you’ve got asparagus in your Hand we’ve got peaches from Stratford That we went down and picked from the Orchard ourselves I’ve got the like the sweet tart Extreme Sour which is like a sprayed We’ve got strawberries raspberries Lemons oranges mixed vegetables spinach Sweet corn carrots I’ve got homegrown peppers from a local Farm store and I’ve got Yeah I’ll just I’ve got ice cream so you can do almost Anything it sounds like and so we’re Going to talk a little bit about the Different things and and the Practicality of it and how they use it And how a freeze dryer works The first thing that I wanted to say is This is asparagus and I do not like Asparagus but this freeze-dried Asparagus I could sit there and just Snack on it’s really good Yeah so to start with when you were Buying a freeze dryer what was it about It that made you want to have one So the reason that we got a freeze jar And I will admit it was not me who Originally wanted the freeze dryer it
Was my husband because he had been Exposed to them and seen them in action But the thing about the freeze-dried Food is we can package it in mylar we Can put an oxygen absorber in there the Shelf life is up to 25 years And it’s a lot lighter weight it’s a lot Easier to store I can do not only my Fruits my veggies candy I can also do Meats and meals and it’s not just one Thing it’s not uncovered canned tomatoes It’s if I wanted to do you know chicken Alfredo like I can freeze dry that and I Can have a hot meal if something happens Or if I go camping if I’ll be with Hiking I can I can take a full meal with me it Doesn’t weigh anything and I’m not gonna Break my bag like oh what a glass jar or Something like that so the first thought Is it’s kind of a replacement for how Our grandparents were canning it’s Definitely an evolution from home Canning is Because of the Like we have the Harvest giant French Dryers and it’s considered a residential Freeze dryer it’s something that there’s Definitely more and more people getting Into a lot of folks don’t know about Them a lot of folks haven’t heard about Them But if you go look in the freeze drawing You can control what is in your food how
You store your food how long you store Your food And And basically what do you want to store It’s not just what’s commercially Available to you some of the most Interesting stuff they’ve already told Me one I understand or I knew that There’s freeze dries me freeze-dried Meals that you can buy but I just Couldn’t picture how it works and but Apparently I mean you can do spaghetti And it comes out and it’s super Lightweight but the And then you rehydrate it and it’s going To taste like spaghetti it’s just like Spaghetti just like how it went in it Should have the same texture or very Close to and the difference between that And canning is if you can the food a lot Of times it loses the nutritional value Where you’re going to retain it more yes With the freeze dry with traditional Canning you lose maybe 20 to 30 percent Of your nutritional value because you’re Utilizing heat to process it not only Are you cooking the food but then you’re Also using heat to actually seal and Can your food and with freeze drying you Have a very limited amount of heat Mostly you are Our machine Our freeze dryers they give 44 and zero It it draws a vacuum has some pads under
Underneath the trays that warm up the Trays so the hottest temperature most of These foods have hit is 150 most of the Fruit in your vegetables are processed Around 125 degrees And because of it getting so cold you’re Literally getting it below the safe Zone From bacteria to survive so you’re Actually getting it really really cold And in some cases you’re still getting It above that 135 degree temperature That will actually kill the bacteria so They’re probably getting it on both ends Of the temperature spectrum and then There’s no moisture and when you Store them in the model our bags with an Oxygen absorber it’s in a nitrogen Environment there’s no Oxygen there’s no Moisture there’s really nothing for Bacteria to survive on I love the fact that you can Over time like at your leisure prepare a Lot of food for an emergency situation For camping and things like that but They also have a lot of fun with it and Make all different types of snacks They’re doing a side business where They’re bagging up candies and and fruit And stuff to sell and so it’s kind of a High kind of an expensive investment Initially But you can recoup some of that if if You do what what you guys are doing Definitely and uh
I’ve just been snacking on all of this Stuff this is oranges that’s maker and Oranges oranges so that’s lemons it’s a Lemon it’s uh if you like sour candy This is like a cross between a sour Candy and a potato chip Pretty intense So it is the most popular stuff when you Go and and you’re going to bag this Stuff up and sell it is the candy what’s Really popular with people the candy is Very popular with people but I will say There’s also big followings where They’re free because yes freeze dried Fruit is available in stores you can go Get it at a lot of places however what We do differently is we are going to The Orchard we’re purchasing the peaches There we’re buying seasonal fruit that Has so much flavor and this You know just the most nutritional value And that’s what we’re processing and That’s what we’re utilizing I there’s no Frozen fruit anything everything that we Do is fresh fruit pan cut and then Freeze-dried my one preservative that I Do use is I do use fresh lemon juice to Keep the apple slices from browning but That is the only preservative Or preservative type ingredient that we Use there’s I think that’s the best Thing you can look at on any thing You’re going to eat is the ingredients List and the shorter the better yeah and
These are single ingredient Foods except For the candies candies it has candy So if you look at the ingredient list On this one it is by weight So there’s There’s your whole ingredient list I’m Pretty sure you can pronounce all of Those words yeah peaches bananas Strawberries pineapple Apple’s and lemon Juice I don’t know why this isn’t the Most common thing you see in a gas Station and I guess part of it might be Instead of a bag of chips this will cost More but fruit’s expensive so that just It’s kind of common sense that it would Okay I love that I can just snack on Asparagus or carrots So do you have any tips if someone’s Deciding I want to get a freeze dryer And start doing this do you have any Like this is what you should know or Um If you’re gonna get a freeze dryer Be ready to play with your food I know we were always told growing up Don’t play with your food that’s exactly What I do is I play with my food a lot Don’t be afraid to make mistakes they’ll Be afraid to try new beans and don’t be Afraid of the technology they’re very Simple to operate it’s a touch screen Literally if you can operate the phone In your hands you can operate a freeze Dryer and they have created them with a
Residential Consumer in mind so that they it’s not Rocket science it’s very easy to me this Is easier than home candy because I’m Not having to move five stars in and out Of a hot water bath or in and out of a Pressure canner It’s It’s you know it’s just very simple and Then it’s a matter of putting it in a Bag with an oxygen absorber and sealing It up is there a list of things that you Can’t freeze dry you cannot watch freeze Dry fats and oils so Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups The chocolate has oils in them peanut Butter has oil in it It’s so I mean but butter works that Butter It will work because there’s a lot of Moisture in it but not necessarily oil So when I have people who want to have Food and they want to have Foods Freeze-dried I will tell them Go ahead and cook your meals normal but Any kind of oil that you would normally Use it could use a vegetable oil or an Olive oil substitute butter this is Skittles yes And to me it feels like the flavors are More intense on all these candy items And you can actually hear yourself Eating a Skittle now so that’s why we
Take samples when we go to our trade Shows and different places where we do Go sell candy Because it’s hard to explain it’s a Skittle but crunchy unless you’ve had One it’s it’s hard to explain and like I Had a m m and like a Snickers bar and You can just like let them melt in your Mouth you don’t have to chew them up any Of the candy Those are gummy worms so these are gummy Worms So that is your sour gummy worm just Your regular gummy but if you have Orthodontia if you have dental work Guess what it’s not gonna stick you can Still eat it but it’s going to have a Crunch like a Cheetos Puff No it’s to me they’re way more fun to Eat than a regular gummy they’re Delicious in the the flavors are really Intense So a couple more things over here that Were interesting but like this uh was That an Eminem or something back there Or what are these right here Snickers this is uh you cut it in little Pieces or That’s a partial bag So that’s just fantastic I thought maybe freeze drying would take All the calories out but that’s not how It worked The caramel M MS
M M’s so much better that’s a caramel m M a lot better than a regular m m well And the cool thing about the caramel M M’s chocolate doesn’t freeze dry so There’s textured chocolate is going to Be exactly the same the outer candy Crust is the same but it’s going to be That chewy caramel it’s no longer chewy That’s what’s going to give you the nice Fluffy cotton candy texture and for Scientific purposes I better make sure These are okay That’s enough And then I have fun stuff like doesn’t Everyone have a jar of ice cream on Their counter That’s ice cream this is yes so we have A local that ice cream chain and they Make different flavors that is their Churro flavor of bronze ice cream For science It’s one of my favorite flavors so it’s Really hard not to just some of the Seasonal flavors try to preserve those Not in the freezer but where I can Actually just All right you’re going to show them what The machines look like sure So this is a large Harvest Right freeze Dryer and if we open it up you can see It does have five shelves It does have the vacuum chamber that Will get Really cold this is what we’ll get
Down to 40 below zero and underneath Each one of these shelves there is a Small pad that will keep the trays and That will cause a sublimation which Causes any ice that has frozen in the Food to then Vaporize directly into water vapor so That you have sublimation taking place The water vapor will then freeze on the Outside of the chamber which keeps it From returning to your food so that’s Actually what Dries out your food as far as freeze Drying it and honestly Freestrying has been around for a very Very long time and some of the earliest Examples are actually I believe in South America but for you people would Actually go with the height out too And freeze their food and let it dry out At the High Altitude so this is Literally just reproducing That climate And just a ballpark on average what is Someone going to spend on a machine for Their their home just could freeze dry Some food for themselves so this is a Large machine and I’m just going to Ballpark and say this New place been around to work handle Some dollars on it I don’t know if it Was actually that much there are smaller Machines and you can get there’s a Medium there’s even a smaller machine so
Depending on How much you think you want to process As far as food and how it how big your Family is because if you’re an Individual you don’t want a huge machine Unless you are going to do this for a Hobby or you know sales or whatever If you just want to be able to put away Your food for yourself then there’s Smaller options where It’s much more affordable and a lot of These are available at some of your farm Stores you’re getting more and more Available all over the place And they actually make stuff to sell and They package it up and if you want to Check out what they’ve got going on your Facebook is called Janet Springs Drive Janice freeze dried I will put a link in The video description so you can go Check that out you think there’s Anything that I haven’t thought of that People might want to know about freeze Drying well There’s a lot of uses as far as you can Make your own seasoning Blends if you Wanted to Pack if you have an herb garden then you Can Fresh ground Peppers you can grind your Own herbs like we were talking about the French dried onion and pepper blend and Possibly you could make your own onion Powder garlic powder different things
Like that and you guys have powdered Tomatoes we do have powdered Tomatoes I Don’t like tomato paste or tomato sauce Anymore because I have tomatoes that I Drew myself in the garden and Freeze-dried them ran them put through a Food processor and they are powdered if I need a tomato paste I just hydrate my Oven it’s very cool well I appreciate You taking the time to show it to us and I appreciate you for watching so I’ll Put links on the screen to more of our Videos and we’ll see you next time
