Is freeze drying the ultimate food/storage prep?


Interesting to see the big industrial versions, thanks @zelph I don't think the Inca Indians could pull a vacuum like the .modern versions.

I'm having minor trouble with mine now, I have a slow vacuum leak. I know all the places to look, its just a hassle taking the cabinet apart, to get to it's guts.
 
Heckno! It has three pretty distinct subsystems (freezing/vacuum/tray heaters). It has computer thingies switching them and measuring stuff. Early versions of this machine did not have the computer thingies, it had a knob, that you manually changed. That took a lot more baby-sitting, the computer thingies just automate that part.

The basic device is still mostly mechanical, and I can do mechanical. Actually I can do computer thingies, also. I have a vacuum variation problem. I spent some time today testing with it.
 
Think I found it. I was disconnecting and checking the several vacuum connections for possible leaks, this little O-ring looks mangled. This is a very likely suspect. I found detailed info on what it is, so repair is hopeful.

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I believe it is fixed. I replaced that O-ring pictured, did not make a difference. Going down the line on vacuum, I replaced two more. These are crimp fitting vacuum hoses, that is another spot to leak. I replaced two more O-rings, and slopped the sealing goop on the crimps, and tests so far, it is pulling a vacuum like it should. I need to let it run for another hour to finish the tests, but it looks good.

For future reference, here are the O-rings and part number, and the sealing goop (Liquid Tape) I put on the crimps. I hope to run a load tomorrow!

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It was *not* a success. I still was getting erratic vacuum levels. In the true spirit of troubleshooting (test/fix the cheapest/easiest things first) I had ruled out all the inexpensive things. This pretty much narrows it down to the pump itself being flaky.

The vacuum pump is not physically integral to the whole thing. It is a separate unit, that connects with one vacuum hose and a power cord. It's easy to replace, but not cheap. Instead of the $800 new price, I bought a refurb for $440 (free shipping was a plus, this is clumsy and heavy). This seems to have fixed it. The vacuum can be measured, it's pulling lower numbers now than I have ever seen. I have run a load of frozen corn successfully, and am now finishing up a load of shrimp.

Once it completes this, I will put all the panels back on, and roll it back into it's normal resting place. It makes Mrs. Marbleman nervous, seeing wires.....
 
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The shrimp was a complete success, the machine went through all of it's steps properly. The lids are on, Mrs. Marbleman is happy. Here's what it looks like opened up. The clear ribbed hose going into the side is the vacuum, the thing on top with the wires pointing up is the vacuum sensor, to report how much much the pump sucks........

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Next up? Biscuits and gravy. This seems iffy to me, because bread is touchy to rehydrate without it melting into goo. Apparently it helps to break the biscuits into bite-size pieces. We'll see.

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Two trays of biscuits and gravy, and two trays of fajita steak strips and vegetables. Nice to have it working properly again.

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Another day, another load. Three trays of kidney beans, and another tray of shrimp. We've got quite a bit of protein and fruits/vegetables, need to concentrate on more dairy products. Skim milk works well, as well as yogurt.
 
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Our garden is winding down. A tray of heirloom tomato soup, a tray of cooked/sliced turkey, trays of celery, cooked spaghetti, and peppers. The small trays are toaster oven pans, from Amazon. They are stainless steel, and exactly half the length of the normal FD pans. This makes it easy to put two very different foods, on the same shelf in the FD if you wish.

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Some more loads. Two trays of peppers, various sweet with a few Poblano. A tray of Cauliflower, Chickpea and Lentil Curry, and a tray of cooked, uncured ham. Ham is one of my favorites to FD. It FD easily, it re-hydrates easily, and there are good uses for it both FD and rehydrated.

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Agreed- ham is a good one. This week I’ve been snacking on peaches that we freeze dried in 2022. They are excellent.
 
Back in 2020, I bought a couple Harvest Right medium machines. They have worked flawlessly all this time.

Our huge garden makes these machines worthwhile (and the volume of eggs we get annualy)

Yesterday I pulled out a batch of butternut squash and today, another machine will finish acorn squash.

I finally bought a power consumption meter to see what sort of energy these machines are using.

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Good to see $3.39 on the power. Got a link for that meter?
We have enough outdoor critters, I can't easily pre-freeze outside.
 
marbleman said:
Good to see $3.39 on the power. Got a link for that meter?
We have enough outdoor critters, I can't easily pre-freeze outside.
Click to expand...

Suraielec Watt Meter, Plug-in Socket Power Meter, 90V-250V Wide Range, Backlit Large Display, Auto Cost Calculator, Overload Protection, Kilowatt Wattage Voltage AMP Tester, Electricity Usage Monitor - Amazon.com

Suraielec Watt Meter, Plug-in Socket Power Meter, 90V-250V Wide Range, Backlit Large Display, Auto Cost Calculator, Overload Protection, Kilowatt Wattage Voltage AMP Tester, Electricity Usage Monitor - Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
 
Wow, I like that watt meter! I didn't know there were alternatives like that to kill-a-watt. I bought another kill-a-watt fairly recently, at around 2x that price. Oh well. .13/KWH is way lower than here in CA too.
 
Due to our hens being over achievers, we always have a surplus. We have found freeze drying to a perfect fit for that surplus.

We have freeze dried more than 200 dozen already. It costs 37 cents a dozen to freeze dry them.

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We cant tell them from fresh eggs.

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They can be used any way except hard boiled or sunny side up. They work great for cooking and baking and batters, french toast, etc.
 
Today Mrs. Marbleman opened up a jar of FD mushrooms we did, from November 2020. Absolutely perfect, all dry and crispy. These were stored with no refrigeration, in unheated basement room. The little colored packets are O2 absorbers.

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It won't work for home use. Home level freeze-drying only removes water. It doesn't do anything to oil. For regular foods with moisture, the process is called vacuum sublimation.

It is frozen really cold, like -80F, then you pull a pretty hard vacuum, then the trays are heated. The water goes straight from solid (ice) to gas without going back to water. This preserves the cell structure, it's not mushy like frozen things can sometimes thaw out, to.

This how home freeze-drying works, for shortening they use industrial spray-drying to emulsify fats with dairy or starch agents, offering a 5-year shelf life..
 
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