Batch 610 Freeze Drying Tomato Slices & Checking/Testing a Bag
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Freeze drying another batch (#610) of tomato slices. This time putting 3 layers on the trays. Also, opening a bag from batch 609 to check/test.
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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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If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our affiliate link. It helps us and costs you nothing! affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html
Before buying a freeze dryer perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; like with any big machine, some people say they have had problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
I’m so excited to do homegrown tomatoes slices this year. I was happy to see you don’t remove the seeds. Thank you for your great examples.
When I do multiple layers I slice slashes through the parchment that goes between layers to let moisture escape more easily. I haven’t tested to see if it actually helps but it does in my mind so that’s what I do.
Why would anyone remove the seeds? Are people doing that? You can freeze dry seeds and then grow them. harvestright.com/blog/2016/freeze-dried-garden-seeds/
Do give them extra time to *really* make sure all the seeds get dry. They are kind of designed to keep their moisture and need extra time.
We have slashed the parchment on a number of tests when doing multiple layers, and I don't think we saw a measurable difference. It doesn't hurt, but maybe a darker parchment would help more. (To absorb the radiant heat?) The pressures are so low that I don't think it matters too much to the vapor coming out of the food. But the fact that the middle layer doesn't get heated is definitely noticeable when I check the thermometers!
I LOVE tomatoes, but am not supposed to eat them because they exacerbate the Rheumatoid Arthritis. The seeds have the majority of the compound that causes it.
Yes, I understand that reason, and I've know people that couldn't have small seeds due to digestion issues. I was just betting that people are being told they *have to* remove them for freeze drying like some of the other freeze drying myths.
I wonder if punching holes in the 2nd and 3rd layers of parchment would improve the drying of the middle layer of tomatoes.
Your channel is excellent!
I have tried slashing a bunch of slits in the between-layer papers, and It had no measurable difference as far as I could tell.
Agreed. Crunchy Cheetos are the only way to go.
Hi I'm wondering if you've done a video showing how you track your food/bins, would love to see a screen shot of your spreadsheet.
TIA
Here is a bit of data - This only covers 50 batches, but the data sheet for everything is just a bigger version of it.
Freeze Drying Your First 500 lbs of Food - Recapping the First 50 Batches th-cam.com/video/IRkac5wrCzI/w-d-xo.html and this - 500 lb series inventory sheet (Feel free to download a copy and use it anyway you want. You don't need to ask :) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S85FExN_oHCZN_tX4-YkQ-CAPY3ANQ-kevMy4Ny6PxE/edit?usp=sharing
😃 🙃 😛 🐸 ❤️ 😋
when doing the dry check, enough moisture would have been removed that they would no longer stick together, wouldn't it work better to remove the paper dividers and allow the vacuuming process to work without that barrier?
You could and it wouldn't hurt, but at the pressures involved, it doesn't really matter. The paper layers are no barrier to the sublimated water.
Only $4 for 40 kWh? My god... That would be pushing on £12 for me here in the UK, so not far off $15!
😇 Yes, there are *huge* differences in electricity prices depending on where you live. Electricity costs are about 3 1/2 times as high as mine just 300 miles away.
I do need to update my numbers on future videos due to a rate increase of 14.8% at the first of the year. (about $4.60 instead of $4:)
When you do your dry checks and find trays that haven’t changed in weight, why don’t you remove those trays and let those that have changed in weight to continue?
You can and I have, but most of the time I want to be able to bag everything at same time because most of what we do ends up with 10 bags per batch and the oxygen absorbers come 10 in a bag. But mostly habit! It probably would have made even more sense to have bagged the finished tray first so I would have less to bag at one time with these slower to bag items..
Still very new and I freeze dried 8 cans of canned pumpkin...didn't find a cold spot so I started powdering them and low and behold there was a big wet spot... I don't know if I can put the powder in to finish the drying or do I have to wet the powder down and start again?
No problem, just dump EVERYTHING back onto the trays and give it more time. Almost never a need to re-wet. I would cover the food on the trays with a paper towel just to make sure the powder stays put, but probably not really needed.
In the old days (a few years ago:), before we started doing the "Dry Check" by weighing the trays we would have that happen once in a while. You think it's perfect and then you find one little spot of cold or ice. Just put it all back in - all of it, even if you only found a spot on one tray. (Unless the other trays are something else or loaded with a lot less) If one tray was not dry, the others may have been just a little ahead of that one, with some moisture still bound up in the food that you just can feel. Don't guess with dry.
Once you are 99% FD'ed , it is cheaper and faster to finish it in a dehydrator if you have one, I keep mine right beside my FD and use them together when necessary. At that stage, it doesn't effect the look or texture of the finished product.
@@caryreprogle6445 Even if it could work (I have never seen any data to even _suggest_ that it could), you would still be heating the food for hours in an oxygen-rich environment! This something I am trying to avoid. If I could do this in a pre-dried 100% *nitrogen* (or other inert gas) environment, I _might_ give it a try. Otherwise, the risk is way too high for me.
SchoolReports
I looked thru all your videos and I don't see one that covers the why. I understand the benefits of Freeze drying, but why do it? What is the goal? Or stated differently, can you make the case for buying one of these units? I have gone the route of buying entrees from Mountain house and others... ya more expensive per meal, but less hassle and I don't have to spend $3K on a very loud machine that has to run 24+ hours at a time. But I am disappointed in the very limited selection. .... So I'm tempted to buy a machine, but concerned I will not be as driven and prolific as you. How about a video on the subject? Also, I have not seen anyone do a comprehensive coverage of which foods are right for freeze drying. For example, with foods given a 1-10 score for freeze drying applicability. Tomatoes for example are apparently slimy when hydrated.....chocolate fails to freeze dry, etc.
I have 2 reasons: I am using mine to give me more freezer space. I like to make large batches of food, (chili, soup, stew), and if I freeze dry, I can store them at room temp instead of taking up space in the freezer. Other reason is for backpacking, especially for folks with dietary restrictions. I am a Scout leader and some of our kids have to avoid certain common foods that are found in commercially prepared FD’d food. This allows me to let them prep the foods they can eat on the trail.
The short answer is no, I can't/wouldn't make a case for why someone else should buy a freeze dryer, over what you've already brought up; price per meal and meal selection.
I can say the the payback *can* be pretty quick, about 50 batches.
If the goal is just to have an emergency food supply, with enough for a short to medium time frame, I would say don't buy a freeze dryer, just buy a supply of commercially made items. Plus, you can literally buy the supply a bag at a time, with no lump sum expense. The taste and selection might not be as good, but it's an emergency, so who cares.
When we started looking at freeze dryers, I wasn't thinking about prepping or anything like. (We did consider camping) Our freeze dried stock is used as our pantry. (But we've always kept necessary supplies well stocked. I hate running out of things.) For us it was because we had 3 large freezes full of meals and ingredients and lived in some fear of a power outage or mechanical failure. I started looking for a walk-in freezer, then realized that that wouldn't be an improvement, it would just be more costly to operate and maintain with the same problems. (And completely nuts because even used ones are not cheap) That's when we came upon Harvest Right. Now it's been almost 6 years and we still have 3 full freezers AND almost 50 bins of freeze dried food, plus we've often been eating our own freeze dried food for 5 years. With freeze drying, once it's finished and bagged, it can sit there for years without additional energy input.
Tomatoes get soggy, not slimy when rehydrated. Vastly different.
While it is true that *chocolate* does not freeze dry, it is fine to have chocolate *_in_* foods; it does just fine. There are a lot of myths when it comes to what can and can not go into the freeze dryer. Don't Fear Chocolate: Freeze Drying Chocolate Chunk Muffins and Chocolate Chip Cookies th-cam.com/video/BXfk2kEFknY/w-d-xo.html
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)
@@SchoolReports, given the amount that you freeze dry, it would seem you are forever eating freeze dried food rather than fresh. Ya, I just can't pull the trigger. The thing that gets me the most is when I see that it takes 34 hours to complete. I have fairly large quantities of Mountain House, Augasons, etc. Always looking to add more. I wait for significant sales. But I tend to go for the entrees rather than ingredients
@@klaatu2 Understandable. I think that for most people it would make more sense to buy the freeze dried food than a freeze dryer; there is a lot of good quality commercial freeze dried food.
For batch time I'd say that for the average 10 lb batch, 34 to 44 hours is a good number to plan for, but for almost all of that time it's running on it's own. The new machines (mine is from 2017) are a bit faster, but people that think/say theirs is dry in a LOT less time are either putting a lot less on a tray or may not be making sure it really dry.
Where did you get the scoop you use to fill your bags.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
😁 The scoop I use is one I "adjusted." After I bought the scoop I cut both sides off and attached 3D printed end pieces to the sides. Taller side pieces might make it better. This is how I changed the scoop - Food Scoop For Freeze Dryer Tray th-cam.com/video/trs26E42Zho/w-d-xo.html It could be done without a 3D printer by heating up the cut off pieces with a heat gun (could be done over a toaster or in an oven) and I was able to easily flatten them. It would then be very easy to sand them to fit the side of the scoop and glue them on.
This is an Amazon affiliate link to the scoop I used for the scoop project: amzn.to/3pdTB4J (I've seen right hand ones and left hand ones, (and dual) and most of the time the left hand ones were cheaper)
I have bought another one and plan to do a video changing it without using a 3D printer, for my sister and her new machine.
Could you tell me where you purchased your cover for your screen so that you didn’t touch the wrong button?
No, Sorry! 🤣 But, seriously, it was just a random piece of plastic packaging from something sitting around when I needed it. I really don't know what it was from. I sure wish I had paid attention to what it was, but I never though anyone else would care or want to do the same thing. I added after someone (sister!) saw dust on the screen and wiped it off while a batch was running, not knowing it was a touch screen, and canceled the freeze drying. Oops. When she got her machine, she also added a similar cover. Again, just a random piece of plastic packaging she had sitting around.
@@SchoolReports OK I will look for some thing to put on it as I accidentally bumped my machine and shut it off
@@diannalucas223 I hate when that happens! Sometimes touch screens are not a plus.
Good stuff, wouldn't an hour meter on the power supply to your pump give you the processing time? Thanks for sharing.
Of course it would! The thought never crossed my mind to do the simple way! 🤣 Thanks.
We just tried tomato sauce and it was our 1st fail . When we were breaking it apart to package we found a wet spot in the middle but had already put the machine in defrost. The prefrozen sauce was too high (too thick) on the tray. What should we have done?
No big deal. I would have just dried them some more.
Doing the _Dry Check_ using the scale _should_ catch that. With very thick items, the _Dry Check_ may have to be longer than 2 hours; I'd use 3 or 4 hours for tall items.
If I were to find a wet area in the food (or even a cool/cold area), I'd simply put *_everything_* back on the trays for more drying time. If you've already turned off the machine, just store the trays of food in the freezer until the machine is defrosted *and* re-cooled. Not a big deal. Everything will still be fine!
In the video I'm releasing today, _Tuna Salad with and without Miracle Whip,_ I had to add additional final dry time _3 times!_ because of the height/thickness of some of the pucks of food. Thermometers in the food would have let me know before I took them out the first time, that they needed more time. And without the scale and the weighing _Dry Check_ I would have thought they were dry at the first check, because they all felt warm and dry on the outside surfaces.
Thanks for your response. We do use a scale, but, alas no thermometers. Yesterday, we had already turned off the machine so we ended breaking up the tomato sauce and putting the trays back in and ran a full cycle all night long. This morning the weights were fine; however, the sauce is soft, sticky, and clumpy somewhat like taffy or a fruit rollup. Let me tell you a little bit about the sauce. I used several different kinds of tomatoes but mostly Romas. I removed the skin and seeds by running them through a juicer and then cooked the sauce down until it was quite thick then we prefroze it in preparation for the freeze dryer. Is it possible that these are sugars or oils in the tomatoes? Have you had an experience like this? What do you suggest? I have heard that watermelon stays gooey and sticky but have yet to experience this. We plan to try watermelon as we have so many in our garden! Thanks for your advice and help.
@@greglast3610 Thanks so much for sharing!
Thermometers are far less important, but they do give you a heads-up if there is still cool/cold spot inside and therefore it may have ice and can not be finished yet.
If there is an ice spot inside a block of pureed food when it is taken out, and it melts, the texture of that area will be completely different, even after more freeze drying.
Tomato sauce should not have a problem. I don't know why yours did. There just isn't enough sugar or oil to be an issue, unless it's a odd recipe. Contrary to what some say, sugar usually is not an issue, although corn syrup can be. We have even added a decent amount of sugar to batches of peaches when they were a bit underripe a year or two ago. Your tomato sauce sounds very much like mine, as far as cooking it down until it's very thick. I cook mine down until it's about as thick as jam. (I should have done a slump test on it:) I usually just put the whole tomato through the blender, skin and all! There is a quick glimpse of our tomato sauce in a _making beef stew video_ here - th-cam.com/video/vTsMTgzqSd0/w-d-xo.html and here - th-cam.com/video/vTsMTgzqSd0/w-d-xo.html
I have only had one thing that I can think of right now that remained flexible/leathery _after_ it finished cooling. That was one brand of canned cranberry sauce we tried.
A few things have come off the 120+ºf trays still flexible, but crisp up as they cool.
I wish I could see yours or duplicate your issue; I love the problem solving!
We had no issues at all with freeze drying watermelon; however, we found it _SO_ sweet that we hated it! It was sweeter than cotton candy.
Sugary foods will get sticky _very_ fast in the moist air. I try to take it out of the freeze dryer when it is still very warm and get it all bagged before it can cool.
I just had another though about your soft, sticky sauce. (and maybe other peoples gooey watermelon) I run may machines tray heaters at 120ºf and my sister's new machine is consistently getting the food to 130+ Some sugary things, like pineapple, grapes, etc, _tend_ to do better at a bit lower temperature for a longer time. Perhaps try some at a lower temperature, maybe around 110ºf.
well, I like the crunchy Cheetos, the puffed ones are okay, I'll take them both. question?? do you think maybe you could possibly use something, maybe like the Styrofoam containers you can get meats or other things in. sandwich the slices between those to avoid crushing. the last tomatoes I did, I put the smaller slices in a wide mouth jar, the rest I put in mylar. Have you ever thought of using some kind of container to put the food in before you sealed it. I just wonder if any chemical from the container would cause a decline in the preservation of the food.
😁 For short term use I could definitely see using a jar to keep some of them handy and ready to use. Personally, I don't use jars for long term storage because of the weight and need to keep them in the dark, and most importantly for me, they break when dropped. (Oops, I broke another one!)
I did bag some of these bags with pieces of parchment between the slices. I'm not sure what else I'd feel comfortable using between the slices for *long* term storage. (I wasn't even sure about the plastic bags)
I could package fragile items like tomato slices in a thin cardboard tube, stack the slices in them, and then fill the bags with nitrogen to keep them from being crushed.
@@SchoolReports I use my jars for short term, I have put some in mylar bags and hope they don't get crushed, If they do I can always powder them. I just ran across a video of evan rowell. he used forms for concrete to vacuum pack taco shells and something else. I am not as experienced as alot of people. I've only had my FD for less than a year, I use it as often as I can, but my time at home and work hours dictates how much I get to do. Love your videos, so keep them coming. I think it is about time I shared a cup of coffee with you. Cheers. oh figuratively speaking, Love coffee. have you done a video on it yet that I may not have run across.
Thanks so much for the support! (Dutch Bros! coffee 😁) Even after 6 years, I'm still learning.
Sorry for the following book. 😇
I'm just not a fan of vacuuming Mylar bags of freeze dried food without having first nitrogen flushed the bags. That would be great, but not just vacuuming. (BTW - I don't watch any other peoples freeze dry videos; that way they will never be able to *_honestly_* say I took anything from them. I know I'll miss out on ideas, but I don't have time.)
All bags are permeable to moisture and oxygen. Vacuum sealing removes MOST of the air out of the bags, (and may or may not crush the food) but without an oxygen absorber, will do nothing for the small amount of remaining oxygen or any future oxygen that gets in. Oxygen absorbers remove (or convert) the oxygen that is present now and going forward into the future. I would love to do nitrogen flushing (and I will be soon) of the food when I open the drain valve, and when I bag, like the commercial producers do. It's really simple, I just need to find time and do it! (Even with nitrogen flushing I would still add an oxygen absorber.)
I'm not against vacuuming the bags, but If I were to do only one or the other, I would take the oxygen absorber only, over the vacuum only. I have no issue with doing both except cost of the chamber vac, and time. (maybe a minute per bag x thousands of bags) Even when vacuuming there is still going to be small amounts of air/oxygen between every particle of food. The oxygen absorbers will remove the oxygen exponentially better. Of course, both might be better. If the bag has a lower pressure on the inside vs the outside, there will be a pressure pushing the oxygen in.
(And, because of the differences in oxygen partial pressures, the oxygen will be coming in anyway) Cody of Cody'sLab does a *great* demonstration of oxygen going INTO an inflated balloon without any oxygen. This is the link if you're interested in seeing it. Self Inflating Balloons?! th-cam.com/video/4VY62gmMFrY/w-d-xo.html
It's a very good thing that Mylar bags are a LOT better than balloons!
The long term problem is permeability - oxygen and moisture _ARE_ going to be going through the bag, slowly, forever. The better the bag the slower it happens. If you have oxygen absorbers in the bag they keep absorbing any oxygen that comes through, and should take care of all the oxygen without any need for vacuuming.
If you add a hard form and then vacuum it, the pressure pushing in would be tremendous! At 14.7psi, assuming a bag that is about the size I use the most, about 6 x 8 inches, that works out to about 6x8x2x14.7=1411 lbs of pressure pushing in on the bag. That's about like putting one bag under each tire of a minivan.
@@judypatterson4132😁 I completely overlooked the coffee part! We don't freeze dry our own coffee because it's one of the oldest freeze dried commercial products and we simply can't do better. I have done 3 coffee related videos. Two freeze drying coffee drinks from Dutch Bros for my sister th-cam.com/video/0SiqpD_snbU/w-d-xo.html & th-cam.com/video/kfviZzlBG5Y/w-d-xo.html and 1, my all time favorite video that I've made - and my most hated of all the videos I've made - My April first video from 2 years ago. 🤣 th-cam.com/video/gCRgz9TktmM/w-d-xo.html
@@SchoolReports liked your coffee video. lol
I don't think i can support this channel anymore. You are a Miracle wip family, that is 1 step too far. LOL, we have both in our fridge because my wife can't stand Mayo, and I can't stand Miracle Wip. 27 years, and we still cannot agree on this topic.
Ha! 🤣 When our #1 child hit those teen rebellion years she went to the dark side. First Mayo instead of the awesome Miracle Whip, Coke instead of Pepsi and then an Apple phone! Out of control. I thought we raised her right. We failed as parents and we live in shame!😁
So what kind of engineer are you? ;-). It's kind of obvious. I think I"ll try this with tomatoes this summer, but it sure seems like a waste to do this with store tomatoes rather than homegrown. I won't eat store tomatoes even fresh.
🤣 I was thinking of it the other way around - It would be a waste of homegrown tomatoes if I haven't already tested it this way to make sure it works on those store bought ones. I already had my homegrown ones stuck together because of not separating the slices and/or puffing up the bags. (I don't know if you saw this test - Sliced Tomato Check - Freeze Dried in 2018 - Good, But Not Perfect! th-cam.com/video/3yOvsf-t-Ec/w-d-xo.html
Technically, I've never been an engineer. But I've never been a trained (insert any of the things I've done:) either, but I still did them. 😁 I did work in the food industry for a couple decades a while back. Process improvement from harvest to shipping of gift packs of fruit and bakery items.
Definitely controversial. I like the puffs more.
👍 😁