Great update. Always wonderful to see what folks are up to in the garden, in the kitchen, in the barn and on the property!
I love our HRFD. Absolute game changer! I literally don't have the time in the summer to can and then the freezer gets overloaded and things get lost and freezer burnt. I love freeze drying herbs. It preserves so much more of their vitality and improves their efficacy. My turkeys (3 Toms and 7 Jennys) have been prolific layers this year. Just a week ago I scrambled 6 dozen with some bacon grease, onions and fresh herbs, S&P, and freeze dried them. I managed to get 1 1/2 dozen per tray. I did add 12 extra hours because of the grease. And this past Monday we enjoyed one package. First I boiled water and sprinkled a little at a time over the eggs. There was a little water left in the frypan so I dumped the eggs in to the pan and let the remaining fluid boil off. Perfect and amazing! Going to do another batch this weekend. I would do raw eggs but you should freeze them first or you'll get a mess. However, I don't have that kind of shelf space in the freezer. Still trying to solve that problem. Currently have wild halibut fillets in.
The second best thing was originally the impact sealer that came with my FD, but now I have to conclude that my Avid Armor chamber vac sealer is number two!
Looking forward to hearing about your FD adventures. Thank you for all that you share with us!
Those eggs sound amazing! Some of our very favorite freeze dried meals are the "breakfast scramble" types from either mountain house or nutrient survival. Basically what you describe, scrambled eggs, with herbs, onions, etc. Sometimes a bit or meat, or even a bit of potatoes like hash browns mixed in. So amazingly good!
Let me know how the wild halibut fillets re-hydrate, I'd be curious to hear. Meat tends to do so well freeze dried in general, but I've never had freeze dried fish.
I am so sorry I didn’t get back to you about the halibut re-hydration sooner. Just like it was fresh. Couldn’t tell the difference between frozen and FD.
Does anyone know how the power consumption of freeze-drying (per pound of some particular food, say) compares over say, six months with the power consumption of a freezer? I've had skeptics tell me "Oh, freeze-drying consumes a massive amount of energy" but can't pin anything down so far. Thinking a community freeze-drying facility might be a good idea, but not without this info!
We got a used HR freeze dryer for a great price on craigslist. So far we have successfully freeze dried apples, mangos and of course bananas. We tried blueberries but they basically turned to dust... as in when you pick them up they implode to dust. I have bought freeze dried blueberries before and they were good. Not sure what we did wrong. But would love more discussion on freeze drying recipes.... i.e. soups, sauces etc. to put in mylar to stash away for storage. Can't find a good book for this purpose.
I've definitely looked too, and there's just no good book on freeze drying recipes or techniques. Maybe it's too niche, or maybe just no one's gotten around to it yet, but I too wish there was better information out there and hope to do something about it. As P.B. notes below, facebook groups are pretty much the only resource at this point (sadly).
Blueberry powder is still a great item. I haven't done blueberries yet so I am not able to troubleshoot yet. But the folks over at RA40 might be able to aid you. Best of luck.
Wonderful post! I am way behind, I don't even have a dehydrator yet. Can someone recommend a good brand, not top of the line but not dirt cheap either, I'm looking for the sweet spot. TIA.
I have an excaliber dehydrator, which was "top of the line" probably 10 years ago. They're effective and have a huge capacity, but they're noisy. The overwhelming consensus now is that the very best ones are made by Cosori, and they're whisper quiet and all stainless steel.
They run about $150 to $170 ish, which seems like a lot, but it's actually toward the lower end of middle price wise given what things cost these days. The bargain basement cheap ones are about $60 and all plastic, with no temperature settings (which means everything cooks really hot, not great for herbs or fruit). The super expensive ones are $500-$600 and not really better than the Cosori.
I love your practical canning section and right now I’m harvesting stevia to make into a concentrated syrup for sweetening. I was wondering if you have done this and if you might have canned this syrup for long term use. I would love to know processing times if you’ve been successful.
That is a REALLY good question, but a tricky on unfortunately. Canning just plain herbal syrups or any kind (mint syrup, stevia syrup, whatever), or even just simple syrup (no herbs) or herbal tea (no sugar) is problematic because of pH. The pH of all those is around 6-7, which means you've got a risk of botulism.
You'd need to get the pH down below 4.6 for safe canning, which would mean adding a good bit of citric acid to the mix. (That's what they do canning flavor syrups commercially, it makes them really acidic, but there's so much darn sugar you don't notice really.)
I don't know exactly how much citric acid it'd take, you'd have to get pH test strips, and I'd target well under 4.6 for a safety margin. Basically, you'd be canning intensely sweetened stevia lemonade, but without the lemon flavor, just the acidity.
That might not get you what you want though. Stevia tends to get bitter when it's extracted in water, especially if you use heat.
You can also just dry the stevia and make stevia powder, which avoids the alcohol.
Beyond that, a stevia glycerite should work well too, and glycerine already has a naturally sweet taste kind of like stevia anyway. You'd use the same process as making a herbal glycerite: https://practicalselfreliance.com/herbal-glycerites/
I think any of those three options would be a lot better than canning.
I'm a seed business so I'm out foraging constantly. What I have to figure out this year is to extract the seed but save the flesh / juice of the berries and edibles. It has gone to the compost for many years. I used to love making jams & jellies but seeds took priority over the years. They still take priority but tossing all that edible has now become morally wrong in my mind.
It's been my experience with getting the wild strawberries going at home, they really settle in and produce, and they get to a decent size as well. I love the domesticated strawberries but the wild ones are so much better.
We've had that struggle too, wanting to save seed from things like elderberries and chokecherries, but knowing it's much more efficient to extract their tastiness with heat that'd kill the seeds. We've had luck pureeing soft fruits (blackberries/strawberries/etc) and then pressing them through a fine mesh strainer with a spatula.
There are a bunch of different types, but the victorio I've heard is the most versatile. Sam Thayer says he seeds chokecherries and elderberries in one, just put them through with the tension spring removed.
The one I have is a type that attaches to a kitchenaid mixer, and there's no good way to remove the tension spring in that one. I clogged it and nearly broke it putting elderberries through, but I've yet to get a Victorio. If you try it, let me know how it goes, it's supposed to be the best for exactly what you're describing.
We just bought a HR freeze dryer too! It's still on the crate as we are building a new home and wanted to put in the new home. But I'm afraid the vegetables will be ready before the house is.
Wondering about tomatoes, can you freeze dry them? Are they as good as canning? Also cucumbers? We have a lot coming on and can only ferment so many.
I still work full time, on call too and building a house and taking care of my elderly mother so not much time to can but i think I'm going to have to start canning soon with food shortages coming. I've canned a little bit, beets but broke jars. I'm still learning to can. I have many books on it, just need to find the time!
OMG, it there were only 10 days in the week to get it all done, I hear you (and I'm not even building a new house).
Tomatoes freeze dry really well, if you want to try them ahead of time you can get a tin from Emergency Essentials and see how they are. They re-hydrate really well for recipes (but obviously they're not great for fresh eating on sandwiches).
Cucumbers I'm not sure about...you'd have to just eat them as freeze dried cucumber chips, since cucumbers don't really cook well into anything. That might be tasty, I actually really love dehydrated cucumber chips, but can't say about freeze dried (yet).
Your emails are always interesting. I loved reading a bit about serviceberries and the history and reason behind the name. Speaking of berries, here in southeastern PA, we have lots of ripe, wild wineberries right now. A bunch of bushes just showed up around the perimeter of our backyard this year and my daughter introduced me to them. Delicious! I'm going to search your site to see if you have any recipes for wineberries. Yours would be the place to find such a recipe!
I don't have any wineberry recipes sadly...because I've yet to actually find wineberries here! They're supposed to be crazy invasive (but delicious) and while I've found plenty of "rare" berries I just haven't seen those...yet. Enjoy them!
That’s ok. Maybe it’s best that you never find them in VT! Since I commented earlier today I learned that they are native to Asia and definitely invasive :(
Does anyone know what the power consumption of freeze-dryers is per, say, pound of food? It MUST be better than the power consumption of freezers over time, but I can't find any comparison. We are wondering whether a shared freeze-drying facility would be a good community asset some day... but need solid cost info.
If you go to Retired at 40's YouTube channel, he's done one or two videos about this exact topic. I absolutely believe that in the long run, freeze drying is better both nutritionally and financially than freezing. If your power fails, all that frozen food has to be dealt with in a 2-3 day period or you lose it all. I have five freezers and am constantly moving things thru but it's hard to freeze dry (okay impossible) an entire chicken and we raise fifty a year.
I toyed with the idea of a community project...and concluded, I didn't want to deal with people. Because...let's face it, there are some people best steered clear of. I don't have the temperament. But you may be perfect for it.
@PB Likewise, I also don't have the temperament for a community project, but if you already have a homesteading community setup with people you like and you're that type of person, then a freeze dryer might be an awesome way to get together on a project.
Louisa, I actually talked to my friend Victoria about this a long time ago, trying to figure out if we could run it off grid. Pulling high loads from your batteries overnight is a good way to tank your system, so I wanted to know if I could run it in a way that would put most of the heavy load during peak sunshine in daytime.
Here's her reply on how much energy it uses, and when:
Which means that if you're using solar power, you would just need to time the cycles right so that you would be starting the 320-watt low power freeze cycle at night on full batteries. That would then allow the heavier cycles to run during peak sun hours the next day.
**The defrost cycle is optional, and I never run it. Instead I just wait for the ice to melt and it's usually done in a few hours on it's own. This would likely be if you were running the unit in colder temperatures, but we are at about 75ish inside all year.
Excellent information Ashley. I think the topic (energy use and cost), along with the merits and detriments, focusing on cost and nutrition would be a worthy endeavor. Certainly others have touched on this topic on their blogs, but I don't recall ever seeing anyone, other than Brian at RA4 talk about costs. Such an important aspect if your source of electricity is not the grid.
Speaking of costs, as a tip, I reuse mylar bags and as they get smaller, I use them for herbs. I also vacuum seal as well as add an O2 absorber, so that I can verify the integrity of the bag. If I time it right or plan well, I am able to reuse my absorbers, but I generally only do that with things that are shorter term storage and combine with vac seal.
Great update. Always wonderful to see what folks are up to in the garden, in the kitchen, in the barn and on the property!
I love our HRFD. Absolute game changer! I literally don't have the time in the summer to can and then the freezer gets overloaded and things get lost and freezer burnt. I love freeze drying herbs. It preserves so much more of their vitality and improves their efficacy. My turkeys (3 Toms and 7 Jennys) have been prolific layers this year. Just a week ago I scrambled 6 dozen with some bacon grease, onions and fresh herbs, S&P, and freeze dried them. I managed to get 1 1/2 dozen per tray. I did add 12 extra hours because of the grease. And this past Monday we enjoyed one package. First I boiled water and sprinkled a little at a time over the eggs. There was a little water left in the frypan so I dumped the eggs in to the pan and let the remaining fluid boil off. Perfect and amazing! Going to do another batch this weekend. I would do raw eggs but you should freeze them first or you'll get a mess. However, I don't have that kind of shelf space in the freezer. Still trying to solve that problem. Currently have wild halibut fillets in.
The second best thing was originally the impact sealer that came with my FD, but now I have to conclude that my Avid Armor chamber vac sealer is number two!
Looking forward to hearing about your FD adventures. Thank you for all that you share with us!
Your fellow New Englander,
Pam from Vermont
Those eggs sound amazing! Some of our very favorite freeze dried meals are the "breakfast scramble" types from either mountain house or nutrient survival. Basically what you describe, scrambled eggs, with herbs, onions, etc. Sometimes a bit or meat, or even a bit of potatoes like hash browns mixed in. So amazingly good!
Let me know how the wild halibut fillets re-hydrate, I'd be curious to hear. Meat tends to do so well freeze dried in general, but I've never had freeze dried fish.
I am so sorry I didn’t get back to you about the halibut re-hydration sooner. Just like it was fresh. Couldn’t tell the difference between frozen and FD.
I have a harvest right freeze dryer and it was the best investment I ever made. Let me know how you like yours :)
I definitely will Brenda!
Does anyone know how the power consumption of freeze-drying (per pound of some particular food, say) compares over say, six months with the power consumption of a freezer? I've had skeptics tell me "Oh, freeze-drying consumes a massive amount of energy" but can't pin anything down so far. Thinking a community freeze-drying facility might be a good idea, but not without this info!
We got a used HR freeze dryer for a great price on craigslist. So far we have successfully freeze dried apples, mangos and of course bananas. We tried blueberries but they basically turned to dust... as in when you pick them up they implode to dust. I have bought freeze dried blueberries before and they were good. Not sure what we did wrong. But would love more discussion on freeze drying recipes.... i.e. soups, sauces etc. to put in mylar to stash away for storage. Can't find a good book for this purpose.
I've definitely looked too, and there's just no good book on freeze drying recipes or techniques. Maybe it's too niche, or maybe just no one's gotten around to it yet, but I too wish there was better information out there and hope to do something about it. As P.B. notes below, facebook groups are pretty much the only resource at this point (sadly).
Try Retired at 40 Facebook group.
Blueberry powder is still a great item. I haven't done blueberries yet so I am not able to troubleshoot yet. But the folks over at RA40 might be able to aid you. Best of luck.
Retired at 40 also has a great youtube channel that has a lot of recipes.
https://www.youtube.com/c/Retiredat40/featured
Blueberry powder! Of course. Didn't think of that. Thanks :)
GREAT INFORMATION . AS USUAL. HAVE A GREAT SUMMER.
Thank you Roger!
Wonderful post! I am way behind, I don't even have a dehydrator yet. Can someone recommend a good brand, not top of the line but not dirt cheap either, I'm looking for the sweet spot. TIA.
I have an excaliber dehydrator, which was "top of the line" probably 10 years ago. They're effective and have a huge capacity, but they're noisy. The overwhelming consensus now is that the very best ones are made by Cosori, and they're whisper quiet and all stainless steel.
They run about $150 to $170 ish, which seems like a lot, but it's actually toward the lower end of middle price wise given what things cost these days. The bargain basement cheap ones are about $60 and all plastic, with no temperature settings (which means everything cooks really hot, not great for herbs or fruit). The super expensive ones are $500-$600 and not really better than the Cosori.
Look into this one: https://cosori.com/products/premium-stainless-steel-food-dehydrator-cp267-fd
Best of luck!
Thank you so much!!!
I love your practical canning section and right now I’m harvesting stevia to make into a concentrated syrup for sweetening. I was wondering if you have done this and if you might have canned this syrup for long term use. I would love to know processing times if you’ve been successful.
That is a REALLY good question, but a tricky on unfortunately. Canning just plain herbal syrups or any kind (mint syrup, stevia syrup, whatever), or even just simple syrup (no herbs) or herbal tea (no sugar) is problematic because of pH. The pH of all those is around 6-7, which means you've got a risk of botulism.
You'd need to get the pH down below 4.6 for safe canning, which would mean adding a good bit of citric acid to the mix. (That's what they do canning flavor syrups commercially, it makes them really acidic, but there's so much darn sugar you don't notice really.)
I don't know exactly how much citric acid it'd take, you'd have to get pH test strips, and I'd target well under 4.6 for a safety margin. Basically, you'd be canning intensely sweetened stevia lemonade, but without the lemon flavor, just the acidity.
That might not get you what you want though. Stevia tends to get bitter when it's extracted in water, especially if you use heat.
Alcohol or food grade glycerine is a much better option. We make stevia extract with a neutral vodka and it works great. Info here: https://practicalselfreliance.com/homemade-stevia-extract/
You can also just dry the stevia and make stevia powder, which avoids the alcohol.
Beyond that, a stevia glycerite should work well too, and glycerine already has a naturally sweet taste kind of like stevia anyway. You'd use the same process as making a herbal glycerite: https://practicalselfreliance.com/herbal-glycerites/
I think any of those three options would be a lot better than canning.
Hope that helps!
Love the new canning site. Saved the Rose jelly recipe since I planted a new Sitka Rose bush here in Alaska.
Nice! I hope you enjoy it =)
I do look forward to seeing more of your freeze dryer processes.
I'll keep you updated for sure!
I'm a seed business so I'm out foraging constantly. What I have to figure out this year is to extract the seed but save the flesh / juice of the berries and edibles. It has gone to the compost for many years. I used to love making jams & jellies but seeds took priority over the years. They still take priority but tossing all that edible has now become morally wrong in my mind.
It's been my experience with getting the wild strawberries going at home, they really settle in and produce, and they get to a decent size as well. I love the domesticated strawberries but the wild ones are so much better.
We've had that struggle too, wanting to save seed from things like elderberries and chokecherries, but knowing it's much more efficient to extract their tastiness with heat that'd kill the seeds. We've had luck pureeing soft fruits (blackberries/strawberries/etc) and then pressing them through a fine mesh strainer with a spatula.
For the bigger stuff, a food mill works really nicely actually, like this one: https://www.harvestessentials.com/victorio-250-food-strainer-sauce-maker.html
There are a bunch of different types, but the victorio I've heard is the most versatile. Sam Thayer says he seeds chokecherries and elderberries in one, just put them through with the tension spring removed.
The one I have is a type that attaches to a kitchenaid mixer, and there's no good way to remove the tension spring in that one. I clogged it and nearly broke it putting elderberries through, but I've yet to get a Victorio. If you try it, let me know how it goes, it's supposed to be the best for exactly what you're describing.
Best of luck!
Thank you, I'm going to look into that.
We just bought a HR freeze dryer too! It's still on the crate as we are building a new home and wanted to put in the new home. But I'm afraid the vegetables will be ready before the house is.
Wondering about tomatoes, can you freeze dry them? Are they as good as canning? Also cucumbers? We have a lot coming on and can only ferment so many.
I still work full time, on call too and building a house and taking care of my elderly mother so not much time to can but i think I'm going to have to start canning soon with food shortages coming. I've canned a little bit, beets but broke jars. I'm still learning to can. I have many books on it, just need to find the time!
OMG, it there were only 10 days in the week to get it all done, I hear you (and I'm not even building a new house).
Tomatoes freeze dry really well, if you want to try them ahead of time you can get a tin from Emergency Essentials and see how they are. They re-hydrate really well for recipes (but obviously they're not great for fresh eating on sandwiches).
Cucumbers I'm not sure about...you'd have to just eat them as freeze dried cucumber chips, since cucumbers don't really cook well into anything. That might be tasty, I actually really love dehydrated cucumber chips, but can't say about freeze dried (yet).
that apricot jam sounds so good! very excited to check it out
Thanks Nia, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
we have a freeze dryer from HR and love it!
I'm hearing that from a lot of people, these babies sure are well loved...if you're willing to drop the cash to invest in one.
Truly worth every penny!
I can't image how you can use a freeze dryer since you are off grid. I'm off grid and I just can't see how it can work. Details please!!
Your emails are always interesting. I loved reading a bit about serviceberries and the history and reason behind the name. Speaking of berries, here in southeastern PA, we have lots of ripe, wild wineberries right now. A bunch of bushes just showed up around the perimeter of our backyard this year and my daughter introduced me to them. Delicious! I'm going to search your site to see if you have any recipes for wineberries. Yours would be the place to find such a recipe!
I don't have any wineberry recipes sadly...because I've yet to actually find wineberries here! They're supposed to be crazy invasive (but delicious) and while I've found plenty of "rare" berries I just haven't seen those...yet. Enjoy them!
That’s ok. Maybe it’s best that you never find them in VT! Since I commented earlier today I learned that they are native to Asia and definitely invasive :(
Does anyone know what the power consumption of freeze-dryers is per, say, pound of food? It MUST be better than the power consumption of freezers over time, but I can't find any comparison. We are wondering whether a shared freeze-drying facility would be a good community asset some day... but need solid cost info.
If you go to Retired at 40's YouTube channel, he's done one or two videos about this exact topic. I absolutely believe that in the long run, freeze drying is better both nutritionally and financially than freezing. If your power fails, all that frozen food has to be dealt with in a 2-3 day period or you lose it all. I have five freezers and am constantly moving things thru but it's hard to freeze dry (okay impossible) an entire chicken and we raise fifty a year.
I toyed with the idea of a community project...and concluded, I didn't want to deal with people. Because...let's face it, there are some people best steered clear of. I don't have the temperament. But you may be perfect for it.
Anyway, that's just my two cents
PB
@PB Likewise, I also don't have the temperament for a community project, but if you already have a homesteading community setup with people you like and you're that type of person, then a freeze dryer might be an awesome way to get together on a project.
Louisa, I actually talked to my friend Victoria about this a long time ago, trying to figure out if we could run it off grid. Pulling high loads from your batteries overnight is a good way to tank your system, so I wanted to know if I could run it in a way that would put most of the heavy load during peak sunshine in daytime.
Here's her reply on how much energy it uses, and when:
Can I run this freeze dryer if I'm off grid?
I believe you can and here is why!
This unit runs as follows:
Freeze cycle: 320 Watts or 0.320 Kilowatts 9 hour freeze cycle @ 320 watts
Dry Cycle: 850 Watts or 0.850 Kilowatts 15 hour dry cycle @ 850 watts
Defrost Cycle**: 800 Watts or 0.800 Kilowatt 2 hour defrost cycle@ 800 watts
Which means that if you're using solar power, you would just need to time the cycles right so that you would be starting the 320-watt low power freeze cycle at night on full batteries. That would then allow the heavier cycles to run during peak sun hours the next day.
**The defrost cycle is optional, and I never run it. Instead I just wait for the ice to melt and it's usually done in a few hours on it's own. This would likely be if you were running the unit in colder temperatures, but we are at about 75ish inside all year.
Excellent information Ashley. I think the topic (energy use and cost), along with the merits and detriments, focusing on cost and nutrition would be a worthy endeavor. Certainly others have touched on this topic on their blogs, but I don't recall ever seeing anyone, other than Brian at RA4 talk about costs. Such an important aspect if your source of electricity is not the grid.
Speaking of costs, as a tip, I reuse mylar bags and as they get smaller, I use them for herbs. I also vacuum seal as well as add an O2 absorber, so that I can verify the integrity of the bag. If I time it right or plan well, I am able to reuse my absorbers, but I generally only do that with things that are shorter term storage and combine with vac seal.
I'd never thought about re-using the mylar bags, that's a great idea!
Thanks!