Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 2)

[TXHCMark]

Palo,

Initial investment is the machine and some oil.  It comes with a quart.  Check out Harvest Right's site.  Note, you will want to run it in an area that you can isolate.  This is a bit noisy.

[TXHCMark]

Palo,

Initial investment is the machine and some oil.  It comes with a quart.  Check out Harvest Right's site.  Note, you will want to run it in an area that you can isolate.  This is a bit noisy.

[SatelliteDr]

13 hours ago, palo said:

Sounds like something I might like but what is the initial investment?

As well the process taking 48+ hours seems like a lot of electricity usage.

 

p

I have a Kill-a-Watt on the power cord.  Our cost per KWHr here is 8.6 cents and a typical 24-28 hour batch uses about $1.70 of electricity.

 

 

[R.Ph. 380]

Looking for specifically 2 items.  Can you freeze dry Cod Filets, Salmon filets and Catfish filets?  I think these would be ideal protein sources.  I already freeze dry Ham steaks with great success.  Rehydrate and cook fine.

 

Bill

[Kerry Beal]

Bill - sounds like it's up to you to try this experiment and report back.

[EweLady]

Heh Gang! Just got my machine and it's up and running well. One of the things that is taking me time is knowing how much I can get on a tray. Like eggs. I know now that I can do 18 eggs per tray, medium eggs, hens just started laying a month ago. And I am tracking my times on things. 3 bananas per tray...

 

I think I've read every post on Part 1 and Part 2 and I've not seen anything to give me clues. I've searched the internet and not seen much either. Did I miss it? Just a simple list with total batch time would be helpful too. How many apples? That way I will know how much to buy, beg or borrow!

 

Oh, by the way, tray holds 1 quart of colostrum, and I would assume milk too.

Edited September 16, 2016 by EweLady (log)

[chefmd]

@EweLady Ahem, how do you use freeze dried colostrum?

[EweLady]

Rehydrate it to feed orphan lambs.

 

[chefmd]

It makes sense.  Do you think freeze drying preserve immunoglobulins in it?

[EweLady]

I am not sure, I can buy freeze dried but I don't know the loss of IG. I am calling around to see who has a tester. I've read that 50% could be lost, in that case just halve the water. But there may be no loss. Currently we deal with it frozen but it's slow to thaw and when you need it it's usually an emergency so it would be much faster to have it in the freeze dried state. And of course you can NOT microwave it. And I'd have more room for food in the freezer!

 

 

Edited September 16, 2016 by EweLady
add a word! NOT~~~ (log)

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, chefmd said:

@EweLady Ahem, how do you use freeze dried colostrum?

I was afraid to ask!

[EweLady]

LOL, I guess I should have specified it was cow colostrum! For the lambs I add yogurt to the mix to increase the fats. But this batch is from a good Jersey cow.

 

[EweLady]

I do a lot smoking of meats, briskets mostly. Is there any change in flavor, should I be careful of certain woods? Anyone done much with smoked meats?

 

[EweLady]

A colostrum update... well it didn't re-hydrate well. The fat stayed as fats. Globs of butter which would never pass through a nipple on a lamb bottle. Additionally the quality tested below average. Not worth all those hours for sure unless I can figure out a way to break up the butter.

 

But, pulled pork is amazing! I had smoked two pork butts on Saturday for a cookout on Sunday and ended up with quite a bit left. Which I sort of planned on. Froze a bunch but decided to try two trays as an experiment. Two trays of meatballs (halved, something I think I saw mentioned on this forum) because I got them at a bargain and the two trays of meatballs took about 22 hours. I lost track of the time because I freaked out when I found it was done when I got up!!! And the trays had turned back to ice. So I set it to dry for an hour and everything was fine.

[TXHCMark]

Yeah.  I pulled some smoked beef brisket (chopped) out yesterday.  Just amazing.  I am keeping some in smaller pouches for snacks while on long road trips.

[EweLady]

Adding brisket to my to do list!

 

[TXHCMark]

Oh, I did do some heavy whipping cream.  It came out goofy, much like your colostrum.  I would love to find out how to get it to come right, but it may not be possible. What if I mix it with water first!!! haha.  just kidding.

[Kerry Beal]

Excellent news! Harvest Right now offers an oil free scroll pump. They were testing a couple when I went through the facility in Utah - I had told them about mine and they decided they needed to find a way to add one to their options that wasn't outrageously expensive - looks like they have succeeded. It's around $1500 - which is very reasonable compared to the industrial ones out there. I think I paid close to that for the used one I purchased from e-bay. 

[Kerry Beal]

Haven't fired up the freeze dryer for a while (noisy even with the scroll pump) - but @Alleguede showed up the other day with 5 lbs of frozen raspberries that are apparently required for the upcoming workshop (at least that's how he sold it). 48 hours later - all freeze dried.

 

 

[lemniscate]

I recently panic bought freeze dried skittles and Charleston Chews as last minute gifts from a local vendor.  I never bought or liked the conventional versions of skittles and Ch-chews ever, not my kind of candy.

 

BUT,

When these things are puffed by freeze drying, it's a whole different story.  The crunchy airy-ness is highly satisfying.  Hard to describe, but the flavors are not intensified, but more rounded.

 

There was also Fr Dried Bit O Honey, but I didn't try that one yet.

 

If you see some around, give it a try.

[curls]

An interesting and amusing James Hoffman video about making your own freeze dried coffee. 

https://youtu.be/eRnonn7EhEc?si=JeG7iRrZ7aXqTJFa

 

Any updates from those with freeze dryers? Lessons learned?

[Kerry Beal]

My only foray into freeze dried coffee was to freeze dry a cold brew concentrate for a company I met at the restaurant show to provide proof it can be done. 
 

Can’t recall if it was any good