Freeze Drying Frontiers!

Well, we finally bit the bullet and got ourselves a freeze dryer! Why, you might ask? The first answer is breastmilk, the second answer is more good stuff for you, and longer food preservation for us!

After much consideration on my freezer full of breastmilk, I decided I wanted it to be further preserved. Unfortunately with frequent power outages here in Safford, and the simple fact that frozen breastmilk should still be used in 6 months, I took to the internet! Breastmilk actually contains an enzyme that helps with digestion for your little ones, and its called lipase. Lipase can cause a break down of the fats in the milk over time, and even in the freezer, which is why some people struggle to get their toddlers to take the thawed milk, because it will actually taste more bitter and even soapy (while still being perfectly safe). Freeze drying it effectively stops the process, which can help it last even longer.

Now, there are tons of places that will do it for you, they will take your freezer stash and turn it into powder, put it in mylar bags, and ship it back to you. There's even a company in Phoenix where we could have dropped it off ourselves to save on the highly costly shipping. But since freeze-dried breastmilk is priced per ounce, and we had quite a bit, it was still looking pretty costly. On the other side of that same coin, freeze driers themselves are not without their own hefty price tag, but the opportunity to use it for more than just one single project is where the investment benefit comes in. Freeze dried food, properly stored, can last up to 25 years, and the options for what you can freeze dry is a very long list. Even things like raw meat can be freeze dried and rehydrated. The other fun fact about freeze drying, is that the foods retain 98+% of their original nutrition, and even the same texture when rehydrated, making an even better option than dehydrating and other storage methods. You can freeze dry things like soups, milk, vegetables, broth, eggs, fruit, meats, baked goods, candy, and the list goes on! Many of these things make great snacks for on the go, too, since they are about 80% lighter (or more, depending on the product), can be compacted, and are easily eaten as-is or with a few minutes of rehydration. I don't know about you, but the less storage space I have to take up with quarts of broth on my counter, the better!

So far we've had great success with most of our trials, the only one I can't figure out is gummy candies!

Here's how it works:

Freeze drying is NOT the same as dehydrating. While dehydrating involves some of the same elements, heat and airflow, freeze drying involves... you guessed it! Freezing! The machine drops the internal temperature to around -40, and then starts a vacuum pump to hold the food at that temperature by removing all the air from the chamber. The machine then actually increases the temperature inside the chamber (remember, food is still frozen!) at temperatures higher than 120 degrees. This causes the moisture inside the foods to sublimate (turn into gas) and sucks it right out of the food. This leaves the remaining food completely dry! When the process is done, the vacuum pressure is released, and the food can be removed, ideally stored in a sealed environment with an oxygen absorber for anything long term.

So, stay tuned for our upcoming updates! We've released some products already, pickles, apples, and PET TREATS!! Pet treats went live today!! For those of you that tried my samples and gave me feedback from your kitties and puppies, I thank you! We will be starting with the three main meats, Chicken, Steak, and Tuna! Pet approved, as you can see! Thanks for following us!