The freeze dryer will cost between $2,195 and $4,890 depending on the size of the unit and the pump you choose. Don’t try to do freeze dry too much food at once. Really, it’s just setting your food in the machine, pushing the button, and waiting for it to finish. The Harvest Right machines are surprisingly simple to use. That is all happening behind the scenes, however. The Final Dry Cycle is the last step when the internal pressure increases more to extract every last drop of water possible out of the food. Freeze drying removes much more water than dehydrating food because of that sublimation process.Ī close up of the Harvest Right oil-free pump. The vapor is then removed so it doesn’t merge with the food again. The water is first converted to ice and then to vapor. That is what sets freeze drying apart from dehydrating food. Another way of looking at this is a process of dehydrating the food at a low temperature, lowering the pressure, and then removing the ice that has formed. This process is broken down into three different processes: freezing, primary drying, and secondary drying. Lyophilization or freeze drying is a process in which water is removed from a product after it is frozen and placed under a vacuum, allowing the ice to change directly from solid to vapor without passing through a liquid phase. Its scientific name is lyophilization, and FDA defines it as: I like the machine, I just feel due to time constraints I’m not using it to its full potential.” What Goes Into Freeze Drying Food?įreeze drying is the process of removing water from food in order to make it last longer. We’ve freeze dried tomatoes, pineapple, apples, candy, lemons, beets, beef stew, spaghetti with Italian sausage, beets, chicken, eggs – all with no problems. But the unit works as expected, we have the oil-less vacuum pump and have had no problems with the machine at all. “We have one, I don’t get to use it as much as I’d like due to my job having forced overtime. Lots of down time and money.”īiggest selling point is for people with specific allergies or dietary needs, try finding gluten free freeze dried foods, or your grandma’s famous casserole. “I am not sure the cost of upkeep is worth it. The prepackaged meals tends to be pasta rice things like that I don’t really eat.” Like steak and almond milk and fruit and veggies. Once you have a supply it tends to sit for long time periods.” I then asked her she thought it was worth it and she replied, “Yes, because I can put up what I want. Other people who have already own Harvest Right freeze dryers chimed in to add their experiences. It can then be vacuum sealed in canning jars or packaged in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. The inner machine wall will be covered in ice from the moisture from the food, the food will feel warm to the touch – if it is cold it either still has water in it or has sat inside the machine for too long after the machine completed the final dry cycle, in either case the machine will need to be given more dry time to remove or warm the food before it is packaged. When done the machine will go into final dry, and will eventually stop when complete. As the frozen food crosses from solid to vapor it the vacuum pump sucks out the water vapor and it sticks to the inner walls of the freezer. Once it reaches -40 degrees the vacuum pump turns on and the orange heaters attached to the rack inside the vacuum chamber starts to slowly heat the food. The basics: A freeze dryer first freezes the item down to about -40 degrees (you can pre-freeze items to jump start the process). This can be the fate of many home freeze dryers, so first and foremost you are going to have to be realistic about how much you’re actually going to use the device.īeef chunks and chicken feet that Terry has freeze dried as healthy dog treats (which his dogs love). You buy it all excited at first, start off with a bang, but slowly, steadily, the treadmill or elliptical machine become more of a clothes hanger than anything else. An at-home freeze dryer can easily become like a piece of exercise equipment. I can tell you now that making your own freeze dried foods at home with a freeze dryer can either become a big waste of money or a brilliant cost saver that you will wish you had started doing sooner. I both spoke with the folks at Harvest Right for this article and I polled people who have been using these units for years via my social media channels, so you are going to get more information than you might otherwise find on Harvest Right’s website. If you are thinking about buying a Harvest Right freeze dryer to save money and build the home food supplies needed to provide food security for your family, this is the article you want to read before investing the money.
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