Freeze Drying - Batch 659 - Fresh Mushrooms
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- Mushrooms were on sale, so we sliced and freeze dried a batch.
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We have been buying oxygen absorbers and 7 mil Mylar bags from PackFreshUSA since early 2018. During all that time (1000's of bag and oxygen absorbers, and about 6 year before before we added this affiliate link) we have been happy with the products and service we have received from them.
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
When trying to decide what to freeze dry you can start by asking why.
Start by asking yourself this question. Why are you freeze drying food? Knowing this should help you decide what you should freeze dry first.
I'm freeze drying because:
Just to freeze dry leftovers?
You want to make your own food for camping/backpacking?
For if/when the SHTF?
For a short term emergency?
You have your own garden and want to freeze dry the food?
You love Costco but don't have a family of 6?
You are good at finding the food sales but only have 1 freezer?
When you cook homemade chili just for yourself you make 10 gallons? Because you have 3 full freezers and are worried about power outages?
If I knew then what I know now, I would have freeze dried things in a different order. Or maybe not, because I started freeze drying because we had 3 full freezers, I was thinking of getting another one, and I decided I should buy a walk-in freezer instead. I started looking into walk-ins and realized they were expensive to buy (even used ones) AND expensive to own and operate. Then I found out Harvest Right was making home sized freeze dryers. One of my first thoughts was "I like Mountain House!" I have used their food for backpacking almost 45 years and we even kept some in our travel trailer, for just in case.
Freeze dried food will stay fresh for many years and be ready and waiting when you need it.
We do videos showing how we are using our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer to freeze dry food for long term storage. (We have the medium size machine that we got in August of 2017) We talk about how to load and unload the freeze dryer, how to know if the food is dry, is it better to freeze dry raw food or cooked food, and do a few taste tests. Freeze dried food is also great for prepping or just for camping and snacking!
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AFFILIATE LINKS & REFERRALS - I earn from qualifying purchases from the links provided
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As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases from the links provided. By clicking on the links, you can explore the products and tools I use.
www.amazon.com/shop/schoolreports
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PackFreshUSA
We have been buying oxygen absorbers and 7 mil Mylar bags from PackFreshUSA since early 2018. During all that time (1000's of bag and oxygen absorbers, and about 6 year before before we added this affiliate link) we have been happy with the products and service we have received from them.
I earn from qualifying purchases from the links provided. - packfreshusa.com/?rfsn=7877576.a54e2a
Use the discount code "SchoolReports5" to get 10% off your first purchase when using the link.
---------------------------------------------------
Harvest Right - If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our link. It helps us and costs you nothing!
affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
No need to send anything, but if you want to (and I do love to receive things - who doesn't) I did add the address to the "About" page on the channels home page.
Thanks for the video. The ascorbic acid tip was helpful!
👍 I also use bins and a spreadsheet for storage.👍
100% - It actually keeps it simple.
Maybe a spray bottle with lemon juice or ascorbic acid instead of dunking them to prevent browning. I never get any sales in my area
Great Idea, I'll have to try that. (The spray bottle, not the lack of sales! I'll keep the sales!) 🤣
Yum
I would really like to see other storage options of the finished product. I'm currently using bins also but really don't care for that system. Thank you!
Hopefully people will comment about what they are doing for storage and how it's working for them. I would love to hear what works for other people.
Once you have thousands of bags, you almost have to use some kind of bin or box.
The important key to using bins or other bulk methods is to create a database or spreadsheet of what items are in which bin #. If you don't do this you will quickly loose track of what items you have and where to find them. If using bins it's actually best to NOT group like items in the same bins. ie. Don't put all your cheese or meat or ? in the same bin. Better to put different batches in different bins. So bin 5 has one batch of cheese and also lots of other unrelated items. This makes it easier to find food from a specific time/batch. We use bins with numbers and love it. I really don't think there is a better option. It is just too difficult to try to stack mylar pouches neatly. Better to just toss them in a bin and write down where you put that specific batch.
Agree 100% on all points!
Plus, by mixing foods you have grab-and-go bins. (Even if you don't know exactly what's in them, you'll have a good mix) Of course with our sorted spreadsheet we always know what's in every bin.
Thank you for the close up of the sheets you write on, trying to read them upside down or at an angle really hurt my neck 😂!
Very thorough video for newbies, except.. you didn’t explain the fan and cardboard insert you use to defrost the machine and hold the door open instead of using the noisier defrost cycle the machine has the option of using. I’m able to fully defrost my Small using the machine’s cycle in 3 hours, I don’t know how long it would take an attached fan to melt the ice.
Also- what’s that paperclip attached to the inside for? Did some insulation come loose and it’s keeping it on, or does it keep the thermometer from touching the inset tray holder, or some other function I’m not considering?
The stems you cut off the mushrooms: do you suppose these are pwhat I would get in the “stems & pieces” canned mushroom cans I could buy at the store? I buy sliced mushrooms in a jar, and have never bought these cheaper cans because it doesn’t sound like it’s something I want and I can’t see what I’m getting.
When purchasing fungus I haven’t cared if its white or brown, as long as it’s edible, not slimy, and won’t make me sick.
Because I've done so many videos, to me it feels like I talk about these things way too much. (I need to make a list of some points that should be included in videos more often) I do show the freeze drying batch worksheet on a good number of the video, it's just when there are 400+ videos "a good number of videos" still aren't necessarily very often:)
Again, I do talk about why I do the defrost the way we do on a good number of videos. (Just not enough:) Here is a short video about the defrosting: How We Defrost and Dry our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer - th-cam.com/video/dSfIWkwC-e4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ociXg8Ep5phSWh-x
We decided to use the fan to save electricity and to save wear and tear of the freeze dryer components. The main reason I don't use the defrost function (I tried it once when we first got the machine almost 7 years ago) is that it left the machine quite warm and humid inside. I thought it was the perfect condition for mold and mildew. And judging by some of the comments I was reading at the time about other peoples freeze dryers, it was. They would forget to open the door for a couple days after defrosting and come back to a fuzzy machine. I figured that I was the kind of person that would get sidetracked and forget, so I just never closed the door again unless it was running.
A bit about the ice shields at the bottom of the rack. Cleaning Before Batch 561 - th-cam.com/video/8zUWQuffc5c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ramHUt8tg8UyMLux&t=147
The mushroom stems - We only cut off the dry bottom ends that I wouldn't use for anything.
We have done canned mushrooms and thought they were very good and a good price. (current price for the #10 can at our local store is $12.59 ) - Batch 578 - th-cam.com/video/t1Az7bqJ-7I/w-d-xo.htmlsi=mqMK3-o_qi4HOIqq
@SchoolReports I just remembered the other thing I wanted to suggest: How about setting the extra dry time for 24 hours instead of 4?
I watched an unboxing where someone tried seeing how much extra time could be added, they stopped at 24 hours, so I know at least that long can be added.
You’re planning on returning in 2 or 3, but in this case weren’t able to continue your video record for 7. Rather than having to worry about restarts and adding time as the day goes on, put in an impossibly long period you know will be more than enough time (unless you forget the machine entirely) to give yourself piece of mind.
Does your initial cycle have the ability to add more dry time to the process? I set my machine to run its “normal time” whatever that may be, and instead of the pre-programmed 2 hours it gives, I change it to 10 hours, in case I’m sleeping when the cycle ends.
That's a good point. When I'm doing the _Dry Check_ just adding the max time could be a good idea. (And maybe setting a timer:)
We do have our machines set for a 12 hour Final (or Extra) dry time. For most foods that seems to give us a high chance that it'll been complete when we do the _Dry Check_ the first time. If we were loading our trays with less food (a thinner layer) we could have a shorter "Extra" dry time.
👍👍👍👍👍
What is your other channel? Thank you for sharing how you go about your freeze drying process. I would like to know if you did something different with the rest of your mushrooms to keep them white? And if so does that affect the taste? Thank you in advance. ❤️
@SandysFeatheredFriends His other channel is “School Reports - On The Go
I haven't processed any more mushrooms since these. More on the next sale!
SchoolReports - On The Go youtube.com/@SchoolReportsOnTheGo/videos
Many years ago someone who grew strawberries told me to just cap them and quickly *flash* freeze the strawberries with dry ice before vacuum sealing them for freezer storage. (I wash then when thawing). I’ve done it that way since but am curious have you ever used dry ice to pre freeze your food & does it make a texture difference after the freeze dry process?
I haven't tried freezing anything using dry ice before freeze drying it. I've thought about trying it, and maybe I'll still give it a try because I don't know the results. BUT. (As there often is, there's a but)
As you probably know, in general the faster the freeze, the smaller the ice crystals which tends to give a better product after thawing. Great for most food when freezing and then thawing before use. But sometimes we may want bigger ice crystals than the blast freezing gives us. (We are never going to thaw our food after it's been frozen for freeze drying)
With fruits, we've been happier with the results when they have been frozen slower. With IQF fruits (which I think would be similar to freezing with dry ice), we have tested letting them warm up to just about the freezing point of the fruits, somewhere around 26 to 31ºf (different temperatures depending on the fruit) and then we freeze them slowly. (regular freezer speed) This does seem to help them do better, but still not as good as fresh. IQF vegetables don't seem to have this issue. I assume it's because of the sugar level in the fruit helps to keep it flexible and vegetables have a lot less sugars and a different cell structure.
Mountain House has been successfully freeze drying food for more than 50 years. Here is what the Senior VP of manufacturing says here about ice crystals - th-cam.com/video/OzOvsDVL_Q8/w-d-xo.html (sometimes bigger is better)
Remember, I'm just another idiot on the internet. I could be wrong. The #1 joke at our house is "But, I saw it on the internet!" I look at what commercial companies are doing. If they can do it, we probably can too. (with method adjustments)
"If you read it on the Internet, it's absolutely true!" - Abraham Lincoln
@@SchoolReports thank you for so much information! You are the best. I really appreciate your style.
Have you done avocados? Like sliced not guacamole. I’m thinking about doing some. Might need to spray them with lemon juice. 😊
I did some slices a few years ago. I though they did well. (Please try not to laugh at the way I sliced then. - I didn't know you could slice them while still in halves and then scoop them out:)
Freeze Drying Avocado Slices - th-cam.com/video/8mWIZqi1fQU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=r3Oa-7-U6ulphG-B
@@SchoolReports oh my gosh the slices! This west Texas soul laughed so hard! Loved it!! But I will try it and slice them the other way 🤣. Great video as always.
@@beatriceannbaker3350 We recently (2 weeks ago) drove past your place 🤣 to help #1 son move to Melissa, Texas area and Dutch Bros new roasting facility.
@@SchoolReports did the heat vaporize you? It was 108 yesterday and I thought I might melt.
@@beatriceannbaker3350 While we were there I don't think it was ever above 104. The humidity was not bad and I thought it was pretty nice. (Of course most of the time we were driving - In an air conditioned car:)
Beautiful area around Melissa - green, slightly rolling hills, and lots of lakes.
How much I'll each bag weigh after rehydration?
About 2/3 lb per (.68lb) bag for this set. 19:36 & 21:27
🙂🍄🙃🍄😃🍄😇🍄❤🍄🐸