Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 1)

[Kerry Beal]

If you're really desperate for something to freeze dry at some point, I'm kinda curious what a freeze dried hot sauce would be like. Just a good everyday sauce like Crystal or Franks or Tabasco or something, not the face-melter stuff. I know the loss of volume will be huge and I'm sure there'll be heat and salt, I'm just curious if it'll keep the tanginess from the vinegar and maintain a similar flavor profile to it's liquid form. The unfiltered mash would probably work better for this purpose, at least as far as yield goes, but that's not an option.

 

Into the freezer it goes.

[Tri2Cook]

Awesome! Looking forward to hearing the verdict.

[Beebs]

This is so cool!  I'm just catching up on your freeze drying adventures now.

 

I'm curious about freeze dried condiments (if you finally run out of things to freeze dry) - mayo, mustard, sriracha, fish sauce, worcestershire....  Actually, mustard might be pointless (powdered mustard?), but mayo could be interesting.

 

Oooh! Freeze dried Bloody Caesar ingredients - Clamato, worcestershire, horseradish!

[Kerry Beal]

This is so cool!  I'm just catching up on your freeze drying adventures now.

 

I'm curious about freeze dried condiments (if you finally run out of things to freeze dry) - mayo, mustard, sriracha, fish sauce, worcestershire....  Actually, mustard might be pointless (powdered mustard?), but mayo could be interesting.

 

Oooh! Freeze dried Bloody Caesar ingredients - Clamato, worcestershire, horseradish!

Just add water and vodka!

[Kerry Beal]

 

1 kg of mango puree reduced to powder.  I've actually taken out 40 grams from the bottle before vacuum sealing it - making Mango Lassi filling for chocolate.  

 

 

Butter apparently blows up in Freeze-girl.  So much fat that when the heat hits it it melts and it's under vacuum in there.  So in my effort to come up with anhydrous butter - I'm going to put a very small amount in - covered in parchment with a few slits cut in it and the parchment held down with a silicone band.  I figure if she blows it's a fairly small amount for clean up.

 

 

[Shelby]

I wonder if Kerry has anything left in the house that isn't freeze dried?  

[curls]

Yum! Mango lassi chocolates.

[Kerry Beal]

 

Mango Lassi chocolates - freeze dried mango puree, Liberty greek yogurt with honey (not freeze dried), white chocolate, booze, glucose, a bit of citric acid and a bit of lactart.  Oh yeah and a drop of dilute rose otto. 

 

 

Last batch just out - I added an extra 3 hours of drying time - the onions were perfect - the chopped tomatoes just the slightest bit damp - suspect with 4 extra hours they might have been perfect.  They were a little crowded in the pan - spreading them out a bit might have also helped.

 

The tomato slices that were having a do over were perfectly dry, as were the yogurt cubes.  

 

The pork skin was strange - it was dry but what I thought was moisture was fat that had been extruded.  Not crispy by any stretch of the imagination - shall have to see how it grinds.  

 

Basil was very dry and crispy. 

 

The wine is pictured above - sticky, strangely burnt tasting.  Of course I should have tasted it before I put it in there - might have been the same!

 

 

Found some flavourful peaches at the market today (only ones with any smell at all) - and a couple of slices of  cantaloupe to add to the next run.  

[Anna N]

Caramelized onions. They will rest in my freezer until the next time I see Kerry then I am hoping they will be freeze-dried.

[FauxPas]

Found some flavourful peaches at the market today (only ones with any smell at all) - and a couple of slices of  cantaloupe to add to the next run.  

 

I notice that you didn't peel them - just wondering if that makes any difference or not? 

[Kerry Beal]

I notice that you didn't peel them - just wondering if that makes any difference or not? 

Don't know - we'll see I guess!  I do hate peeling peaches.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I'm looking forward to hearing about the cantaloupe. A good cantaloupe is one of my favorite things so I'm curious to hear what the freeze dried version is like.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm looking forward to hearing about the cantaloupe. A good cantaloupe is one of my favorite things so I'm curious to hear what the freeze dried version is like.

I'm curious to see how it tastes dry - then what happens when you reconstitute it.

[rotuts]

Thank you so much for this thread !

 

and a much bigger thanks for not doing ( various ) mushrooms !

 

FzD's mushrooms power ( the kind you cook with  --- to be a bit clear    ) would be a stunning thing to have around.

 

brown buttons would be fine.  more exotic  good too .

[Kerry Beal]

So you want me to do some mushrooms?

[rotuts]

well, OK  just not so Fine that I loose more sleep.

 

you know, So-So

 

(  of course you could be Outstanding Your Way, just not so much My Way )

[Chocolot]

I used my FD peaches in a ganache yesterday. I'm sure I didn't use enough, but there is hardly any flavor:(  I left the peaches in a coarse grind. I used just enough water to form a paste, then put that in the cream. Used white chocolate and infused the cream with cardamom. Should have used more peach, but didn't have any.

[Chocolot]

Should have mentioned the bacon. I took in pre-cooked bacon. They FD it. It was very flat and brittle. Broke into smallish pieces and placed on the enrobed maple ganache. Lovely!!  I made the ganache with Valrhona Dulcey, real maple syrup and some Canadian Maple flavoring that Kerry gave me. It is a favorite of everyone who tries it.

[Kerry Beal]

When I made the Mango Lassi filling - I used what would have been equivalent to about 200 to 250 grams of mango puree to 480 grams of white chocolate.  

 

You might have to get a Freeze-Girl so that you can have unlimited peach powder!

[Kerry Beal]

Should have mentioned the bacon. I took in pre-cooked bacon. They FD it. It was very flat and brittle. Broke into smallish pieces and placed on the enrobed maple ganache. Lovely!!  I made the ganache with Valrhona Dulcey, real maple syrup and some Canadian Maple flavoring that Kerry gave me. It is a favorite of everyone who tries it.

Sounds fabulous!

 

Started a batch of bacon curing today - determined I'm going to clean out the freezer and there was a 10 lb pork belly in there.  There will be FD'd bacon in my future.

[Kerry Beal]

Wanted to add some extra drying time because the ice cream was rather thick slices and I had to go to work. When the new dial comes for the drying time I'll be able to adjust it - but I'm kind of stuck with turning it off - then back on, dialling through the freezing time and restarting the default 5 hour drying time again.  So these guys had over 10 hours drying time - well over!

 

 

I put some sticks in the ice cream before putting it in - they are way too crispy afterwards and would just shatter if I tried.  Now when the girls come this weekend to play with chocolate - we can dip some of these.  One of the hazards of neapolitan - it wants to come apart at the interface.  

 

 

Anhydrous butter - sure glad I put the paper on top - I lost a little over the edge.  

 

 

Re do of the tomatoes, sweet onions and the Thai eggplants - I'll do the side by side stir fry of the fresh, frozen and freeze dried over the next couple of days. 

 

 

Peaches and cantaloupe - thought there was ice on the peaches - but I think it was sugar crystals.  They are very flavourful.  The cantaloupe is quite amazing - will have to let hubby taste it dry in the am - then see what happens when we reconstitute.  

 

 

Hot sauce - not sure I can compare - I think I need to grind this up so that all the layers are together - cause I noticed that it is darker on the bottom.  All I tasted was salt and heat - none of the lovely pepper flavour - but I wonder if it's there but not in the part I sampled.  It shall wing it's way to Tri2cook - I'll let him form an opinion.

 

 

Check out the ice rings left on the condenser after todays run - much more than usual.  

[Chocolot]

So did the butter work?

[Kerry Beal]

So did the butter work?

Not sure - will have to melt a little and make sure it doesn't separate into water and fat - but I suspect it did.

[Kim D]

The Thai eggplants look great.

 

And the mango puree made me think of freeze drying green mango to make amchoor (mango powder).

 

_{I love this topic.}

[Kerry Beal]

 

So here is the anhydrous butter melted.  No popping.

 

 

Added 4% to melted dark chocolate and tempered.

 

 

Dipped a couple of the ice cream pieces on a stick.  Don't judge my dipping skills - I didn't want to shake or scrape too carefully in view of their fragility!