HARVEST RIGHT FREEZE DRYER

Just talked with my cousin in N LA for the first time in forever. Seems she has fallen into a new business....freeze dried candy. Seems it's a big thing in SWLA. Anyone heard of this or tried it??

 

My wife did it for awhile and sold a bit but most candies that did well are bad so she stopped and went back to doing our stuff.
Today it is fd goosefoot. First time. Planning on sprinkling it in a pan of beans to see how that works.
She's fd her plantain to make her bug butter stuff for itch and bites. Will let yall know. Few days ago she did yarrow and powered that up. She mixes the yarrow powder with bennonite clay for skinned up and cuts. Spooky how fast that heals.

 

When I attended gun shows here in North Florida a company was always there selling freeze dried icecream in pellets. Funky but interesting.

 

Well, it's been several hours since I ate some of my freeze-dried foods and I'm alive and feeling good. I noticed that some of the milkfat didn't want to dissolve in cold tap water, so I just skimmed it off with a spoon, and next time I'll use hot water. The eggs tasted funny, but I prepared them with no salt, pepper, or anything, so that might account for it. The ham was great. I soaked it in water, and it was as good as fresh. I should be able to fd about #4 of meat, 3 dozen eggs and 1/2 gal. of milk per week, in about a year I should have a nice little stash of food to add to my buckets of 25-year food, beans, rice, oatmeal, corn, oats, wheat, etc.

 

I have made several batches of bone broth powder recently. We've been saving up all our bones (beef, chicken, pig), I make a big pot of broth in the roaster, letting it simmer for 18-24 hours. Then strain out the big bits and chill. Separate off the fat, leaving the gelatin behind. I can fit 4.5 cups of the gelatin on each tray and FD it. Comes out as a really nice broth powder. Use if for soups, stews, pretty much anything you need broth or 'base'.

FD candy at the "hobby" level is almost dead. I have a niece whose been selling FD candy for a couple of years now and sales have really dropped off. She has to keep trying different item because the big candy manufactures caught on and are now selling FD candy directly. Gotta cut off the "mom & pop" stores you know, can't let them have anything unique when the big companies can come in and sell it cheaper.

 

Vacuum sealers like Food Saver use plastic bags which will degrade over time and will impart a funky smell and taste to the food. I had to throw out about 100+ packs of Ramen Noodles because of this. Oxygen absorbers might increase the life of the plastic bag and protect the food, but for anything long-term I'll go with mylar bags.

 

Using thick mylar bags and O2 absorbers will make a small vacuum on the bag.
My process is as follows:

• Remove from the FD as soon as possible. If you wait too long the FD goes into a cooling mode and can cause condensation on the food.
• Add to appropriate sized mylar bag and add the O2 absorber.
• Press out as much air as I can then double seal (seal then do another seal about 1/8" off of the first one).

I also put a lot in mason jars. I will pre-heat the seals to soften them up, I also leave rings on the vacuum sealed jars but properly canned jars I do not.

 

It appears that I'm gonna have to take a break from freeze drying, because it's getting too damn hot. The Harvest Right freeze dryer doesn't function well when the temperature is above 90 F and operating it above 100 F voids the warranty and can damage to unit. I finished a batch tonight, but a week ago I had a batch that took 48 hours to complete. So, I'm gonna clean the machine and throw a sheet over it for now.

 

That sucks, I have my machine inside and will use it year round. I've got Pineapple & strawberry going now, next up will be smoked garlic and onion. Next week I'll run a batch of bone broth, that will help absorb any garlic/onion smells that are left behind.

 

Yeah, mine is out in the barn, it's a nice 40'x60' insulated metal building on a concrete slab with electricity, water and a refrigerator/freezer. Temperature has never fallen below freezing, although we have a woodstove, but summers in Dixie are brutal even with a fan. The cost to heat and/or cool the barn isn't something I'm even considering, although I'm planning to add a propane tank and emergency heating (also a small hot water heater) as a prep. The reasons I didn't put the Harvest Right in the house is the size and noise of the unit. So, I'll just stay in the house under the AC or in the pool up to my nose, for now.