yesterdays

Thanks for all the good info.. I haven't been on for a while, and wanted to let you guys know that we have eaten several (freeze dried raw, rehydrated then cooked) pork chops, chicken, steaks (Now a several months freezed dried and stored in mylar w/o2 absorbers)... The results are perfect. But the ones I tenderize first with a blade tenderizer are wonderfully tender and rehydrate faster. There are a lot of vegetable chips on the market where they freeze dry then deep fry raw veggies. I've found that roasting freeze dried veggies, lightly misted with olive oil, or canola then seasoning (lightly) with the seasonings of your choice make fantastic snack foods... Also, for green beans you actually have to cook them first or the chips are too bitter (or just use canned beans). Have fun freeze drying.... I won't be freeze drying for a while because we're moving. I can't wait to see more of your freeze drying experiences (and I can't wait to get the new place set up so I can get back to it).

Thanks for all the great info Jim.

The radishes are definitely different! They taste like a fresh radish, but airy and dry.... The jury is still out on them by themselves as a chip.... But, what a cool seasoning. I'll throw them into a blender and make a spicy-tasty powder. The oranges are wonderful like a fluffy sour candy ( we used canned mandarin oranges in juice- next time I'll try them in light syrup). I lightly misted some of the corn w/canola and sprinkled with cajun spices then roasted for a for a bit at 320 in the oven and "WOW" what a cool snack (it was a bit rubbery until it cooled- but it cooled to crispy yummy-spicy perfection). I loaded the peas way to deep, and had to put them back in the machine with the next load.. Next load is already in and includes homemade Lasagna and raw pork loin chops (as well as those pesky peas). The marshmallows and gummy bears didn't turn out well, but we'll try again with a different brand. Thank you all for sharing your experiences. You give me courage to go ahead and try different things in the freeze dryer. So, as I count my blessings this Christmas, you're all in that number . Merry Christmas...

Rehydrating for certain foods takes longer. In our first batch I rushed the rehydrating of pork chops and they were a little tough (About as tough as half of them I get from the store - so I didn't blame that on not rehydrating long enough), but the next time I used chops from the same pork loin and batch I soaked them in water overnight in the fridge and WOO!HOO! they were juicy and tender when cooked. With raw NY Strip the rehydrating was faster than pork or chicken and with very little water, they were juicy and tender. The cut of meat makes a difference, as well as, the type. I've found that using a blade tenderizer on meat prior to freezing/freeze drying has a double benefit; it makes it more tender, and rehydrates faster. I will likely do this with most raw meats. I imagine it would benefit cooked meats too, but I haven't tried that yet. Pasta rehydrates wonderfully, but there is a trick to it. To get pasta that is perfect on rehydration it should be "overcooked" before freezing. It shrinks slightly and rehydrates a bit too al dente if you don't overcook the initial product. I plan on doing several different types of pasta in varying degrees of being overcooked then rehydrating to see just how "over-cooked" each pasta should be prepared for real dishes turn out the way we like when rehydrated. I learned this pasta trick by accidentally overcooking my spaghetti to the icky (almost mushy) state - I figured , what the heck, it'll be labeled as emergency or camping spaghetti - and went ahead and freeze dried it -Don't you just love it when Karma is on your side. It is perfect when rehydrated.

Darn the gummy bears must be the wrong kind because they didn't expand.. boo hoo. I'll get pics up with a review of the rest of the goodies this weekend.

Here's our latest load... Stole the gummy bears and marshmallow ideas... This is a simple fun load with peas, corn, green beans, broccoli, carrots, bananas, strawberries, pineapple, mandarin oranges, radishes and cheddar cheese. I'll update once it is completed. Can't wait to try the gummy "crunchy" bears.... http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Terri_Christie/media/photo3_zpsc8de9688.jpg.html http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Terri_Christie/media/photo41_zps4f85d583.jpg.html http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Terri_Christie/media/photo22_zpsac465340.jpg.html http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Terri_Christie/media/photo22_zpsac465340.jpg.html

I am now craving freeze dried gummies, spiders and Jello! LOL... I don't even like them normally, but they just look yummy. How on earth can I look at all this great food and crave the gummy bears and jello... Go figure. I think this darn machine is so exciting that it's thrown me into a second childhood or something! So many wonderful new things to try! Guess I'm not "All Growed Up" after all. Can't wait to see all the wonderful creations as folks continue to share them. Thanks for sharing your adventures in freeze drying everyone. I'll try to post more pics in a couple of weeks. Time to get into Thanksgiving plans, and Christmas decorating, so I may avoid freeze drying this week, or maybe not.. we'll see

When rehydrating freeze dried raw meat in marinade use water and a little (very little) of whatever you want to marinade with, The meat soaks up the flavors when rehydrating much more intensely than if you marinade after rehydrating (so be conservative). It could be an unusual method of creating intensely seasoned beef or chicken jerky too (I can't stand jerky). If you freeze dry, marinade then dehydrate strips to jerky.... I would think it was terrible, but jerky people would have a hard time figuring out how on earth you did it. Smokey chicken jerky with intense apple flavor might be well received (just a thought) I would likely add a drop of liquid smoke and apple cider, then cut into jerky strips after rehydrating, then place at the highest setting in an excalibur.... sadly Someone else would have to taste test it... LOL, did I mention that I really dislike jerky.. I may try some to put in Christmas baskets... I'll let you know what the taste testers say...

We love our freeze dryer! It is amazing how many ways you can use it. I haven't noticed any posts about freeze drying raw meat so I thought I would chime in. I'll add some pictures. So far, I have freeze dried raw pork loin chops, raw chicken breasts and NY Strip. I buy whole loins and NY strip then cut and trim. The pics are of small portion size cuts, you can do larger cuts as well. The raw meats rehydrate in water to be exactly like fresh. I used a tenderizer on the steak before freeze drying and it grilled to as tender as the best filet. The only difference in rehydrating is that I soak the pork and chicken in water, but with beef I use very little water so I don't lose its natural juices in the rehydrating process. Beef takes up water quicker than the pork and chicken too (about 10 minutes to rehydrate completely). Also, for those who soak venison, freeze drying it then rehydrating in milk greatly lessens the "gamey" flavor... use water if you prefer the strong game flavor. Pork loin dry: same pork Loin rehydrated and on a griddle: Same pork loin... This was our first test; it had the same taste texture and cooked just like any loin chop... These are small cuts of New York Strip dried and in a Ziplock (We sealed it w/o2 absorbers in mylar later... These are a couple of odd cuts of the NY Strip that we rehydrated (we use a ziplock with just a little water, then add more water if needed... I didn't take a photo of them cooking... but the were cooked to medium and medium well and were amazing! I could have used even less water as beef soaks up water very well. I love seeing what others have done with their freeze dryers... Thanks to the sweet lady on the other board who recommended checking this site out.