If you’ve encountered the freeze dryer hype, you may be wondering what you can freeze dry. Freeze dried fruit is a great staple to make with your freeze drier, it’s also better than dehydrated fruit, crunchy, airy, light, and extra delicious. It can even be hydrated back to nearly fresh perfection.
Freeze drying is a relatively newer method of food preservation, it is similar to dehydrating in that all the water is removed from the food. However, the dehydration is done in a vacuum chamber, which keeps the shape of the food intact. Due to staying intact and not collapsing, the food gains a light and airy texture with exceptional crunch. It also preserves the intense fruit flavor of fully ripe, in-season, fruits. The dimension of the freeze dried food also makes it easier to hydrate/re-hydrate for consumption, in the case of meals, and easier to bite and chew in the case of snacks like fruits and vegetables. Freeze drying helps preserve the flavor of your fruits, to that of peak ripeness while giving you a crispy texture too.
You can even freeze dry candy in a freeze drier. A freeze drier is a useful tool, similar to a dehydrator. It can be used for many of the same fruits and veggies as a dehydrator, but will give different product results. A freeze drier will make fluffy, crunchy, strawberries that you can dip in chocolate after drying. While a dehydrator makes dried, leathery strawberries that are great in trail mix and for granola, but not as good for gifts or dipping in chocolate as-is. There are also several things you can preserve in a freeze dryer that you cannot preserve in a dehydrator, these include milk, eggs, and low-fat cheese. And you can make fun gifts like eggnog bites, chocolate bites, and applesauce or yogurt bites for littles.
Freeze drying is a great way to pump up your long term storage. With glass jars, or heavy duty mylar bags, your freeze dried fruits can last in long-term storage for 20 years. With nearly full preservation of the fruit’s nutrients. Freeze-dried berries are still packed with antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins. You can even make your own freeze dried fruit powder for smoothies, or use in baking.
One of the biggest keys with the freeze dryer is the vacuum chamber. It is the vacuum chamber that helps food keep it’s shape and dimension while the machine dehydrates and removes the moisture. You cannot “freeze dry” fruits and veggies with dry ice, or by leaving them on a tray in your freezer for a month. You do need a freeze drying machine, like a Harvest Right freeze dryer, to freeze dry fruits and vegetables.
When the timer runs down on a freeze dryer, unlike a dehydrator that beeps at you, it goes into “freeze” mode. So even if your fruit, veg, or even meat, isn’t quite finished, the machine keeps it good until you can check and decide if it needs more time to dry.
How to Freeze Dry Fruit:
The type of fruit will cause a slight difference in the steps you take. Sealed skinned berries, like blueberries and grapes, need a different technique than more open fruits like sliced apples, or strawberries. However, all fruits can pretty much be freeze dried, and most fruits turn out beautifully. Some fruits even turn out nicer when freeze dried than they do when dehydrated, like raspberries and blackberries. Freeze-dried strawberries covered in chocolate are a personal favorite.
Remember to slice large fruits, and slice or pit medium sized stone fruits like cherries and apricot.
- Aim for even sized pieces of fruit, this way all fruit pieces will take the same length of time to dry. If every piece of pineapple is a 1″ cube, you know they’ll all be dry around the same time, if some are 1/2″ or thinner, then those ones will finish quicker and you may have to add extra dry time to your run (or check and restart the vacuum process).
- Layout on your freeze dryer trays, use a reusable tray liner if desired. These are usually solid metal trays that come with your freeze dryer, and you can order additional trays if you want to pre-prep and pre-freeze items to make runs more efficient. While it’s not necessary to pre-freeze trays of cut fruit in your regular deep freezer, doing it can make using your freeze dryer more efficient. Most freeze dryers do start with a pre-freeze cycle to bring the temp down before the chamber goes into vacuum and dry modes.
- When laying fruit out on the trays, be aware that fruit won’t expand. So you can lay fruit and veggies out to be just touching. Most freeze dryer trays can hold 1-1.5 lbs of fresh fruit. You also won’t have the shrinkage that dehydrators do, so don’t overlap if you can help it, as overlapped or piled trays can take longer to dry.
- Follow the drying instructions for your machine. Make sure the oil is clear, the pump is working, and the seal is clean before starting your drying run. During the drying run, be aware of the machine in case there is a failure. Your machine should come with a manual or instruction booklet to help you. Follow the usage instructions for your given machine. A single fruit run should take 24-36 hours.
- Once the fruit is run through the freeze dryer, it will go back into freeze mode. Slowly release the vacuum, and then open your machine and remove the trays. Let the food warm to room temperature, and check for moisture. Freeze dried food should be crisp, dry, and hard/crumbly. There should be no dampness or softness to it. If it seems damp, it may need to be run for another hour or two to remove the last of the water vapor.
- Package freeze dried fruit in mylar bags, with an oxygen absorber and seal with a heat sealer. Alternatively, you can package in glass jars with sealable rings, a vacuum sealer, and make sure there’s an oxygen absorber in the jars as well. This will keep your food fresh the longest. Properly stored freeze dried food can last 20 years. Store jars and bags away from heat sources, and out of direct light as well.
- Remember to check your oil after each run, and change the oil according to your dryer’s recommended schedule so it doesn’t get water in the oil.
Special Techniques:
Berries and fruits with solid skins will need to have the skins punctured before freeze drying. This can be accomplished by cutting them in half, in the case of grapes, or by pitting in the case of cherries. Smaller berries like blueberries and elderberries can be blanched for the same effect. Cherry tomatoes can be sliced or blanched, and yes technically tomatoes are a fruit so we’re talking about them a bit with fruits but we’ll cover them more with vegetables too.
Segmented fruits likeย most citrus can be freeze dried as well. Simply peel them first, separate the segments, and make sure the segment skin’s are punctured before processing.
Larger fruits like apples, peaches, watermelon, pineapple, banana, mangos, pears, and cantaloupe can also be freeze dried. I prefer cutting larger fruits into one inch squares, or slightly thick dehydrator slices. Then, placing them skin-side, or narrowest side, down on the freeze dryer trays. You can fit quite a few more apple slices per tray with the skin side down, and narrow core-side pointed into the air than you can if you lay them on one side. Pre-freeze if desired, or if pre-filling the trays while a different batch is running/finishing.
Then process in the freeze dryer for 24-36 hours. Add extra dry time if you feel it’s necessary.
You can freeze dry applesauce or fruit sauces either by freeze it in ice-cube trays and popping those out onto your freeze dryer trays. Or, just filling the freeze dryer trays with the liquid applesauce and running. Making cubes makes for cute snacks, and premeasured servings. Making it as a whole tray full makes a good base for powdering, then hydrating in bulk. Remember, fruit leather is made in a dehydrator, a freeze dryer makes crumbly applesauce bites, and/or “needs hydrating” bulk freeze dried applesauce preserve.
But I don’t have fresh fruit!
You don’t need fresh, never-frozen, fruit to freeze dry. If you’re new to freeze drying or it’s winter and you just got a great discount at the grocery store, you can freeze dry pre-frozen fruit. Many of the fruits used in smoothies come already pre-cut, and all you have to do is use these flavorful fruits in your freeze-dryer. Now, there will be a slight quality difference, and possibly flavor difference compared to fresh, peak season fruits.
You’ll also increase the shelf life of your fruit purchase, and the fruits can be used in desserts, muffins, and other recipes.
ย Back to You:
If you have a freeze dryer, what types of freeze dried fruit do you want to try making? Leave a comment.
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