Better than Candy (How to Freeze Dry Berries)
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Freeze-drying berries couldn’t be easier, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite ways to preserve that summer flavor. We all …
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They ARE LOUD. We freeze everything first, so it takes less time to freeze. Otherwise, it takes hours more to freeze dry
Thank you for tge excellent video. Do you have a link for the hand held vacuum sealer/pump?
What do you do with the berries once the jar is opened? Do you have to vacuum seal it again or add another fresh oxygen absorber each time you open them? If not, how long is it good for on the shelf?
We also have two freeze driers but have them spaced on either end of the room in our basement. We still struggle with too much heat in the room for the machines to work proper. Do you have air conditioning?
Why would you have to wash the berries? They're not the least bit dirty
Just got a freeze dryer. These videos are incredibly useful.
Hi Carolyn, thank you for this video! I would love to see more content on freeze drying different kinds of foods. Thanks!
I was told by someone that owns a freezedryer that raspberries and blackberries need to be punctured to be properly freeze dried. I think i also saw it on another channel. Do you have any idea why that's what a lot of people have been saying? Obviously your experience looks to be different.
My son traded me 10 lbs of cherries for 1/2 gallons of FD strawberries today!! Lol
Frozen Right has a tool that will poke all those in quick time!
I do a lot of eggs and when they are done I put the eggs into a zip lock bag and use a rolling pin to powder them up and the into a half gallon jar for a week before I put them into mylar bags.
I would love to get a freeze dryer but it's just not in my budget
These freeze drying videos that demonstrate the ways you use them are so very helpful. I would love to see you show freeze drying and using tomato products. Mine are still green but will be ready soon and I’m not quite sure all the ways I could use my freeze drier for them. Thanks for all you share.
For the knock off brand bags (especially the zip top kind) before you use them open them up and look into the dark bag for light. A lot have pin holes that will let air in. Another reason to use jars is that rodents can’t chew into them. mice WILL chew through a Mylar bag…even the expensive ones
"Retired at 40" has a rolling brush that pricks the blueberries while in the tray. I don't remember what type of brush.
Are you running those on solar power? What’s that sitch look like?
We’re planning/saving and pre-homesteading so we can buy our land on the Columbia River(!!) WA.
to save time try using an egg slicer to slice your strawberries on the other side of it the berries will all be the same size slice, also good on mushrooms.
You can use an onion slicing holder to prick the blueberries. That was a tip i learned from Darcy the dehydrating queen.
QUESTION: About freeze drying temperature. Will the vitamins in freeze dried foods degrade at the pre-set 125°F, like they do with dehydrating?
I'm currently freeze drying my first ever batch (after the moist bread) and I lowered the temperature to 115°F because I don't want vitamin loss but it's taking forever! Thoughts on this, please? Thanks in advance! <3
I like the idea of blending up the berries then putting in the freeze dryer then make a powder from them.
I don't currently have fresh berries, I do however have large bags of frozen, individually packaged (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, ext.) that I bought on sale at our local store. They are 5 pound bags each and I picked up two bags each. I know it's going to take the entire freeze dryer per 10 pounds, What I'm wondering is, can I just add the frozen blueberries to the trays, or do they still need to be poked?
I envy the owners of freeze driers … and all those delicious freeze dried food!
But for now as a single woman, I can’t see this being a worthwhile investment. I just wouldn’t need this kind of volume.
When I freeze dry my frozen blueberries that has 30 or 40 needle-like Sticks on it. I use that on the blueberries just like I would a piece of steak. It will pierce all of the blueberries. I only do this when the blueberries are frozen because if you try to do it with the non-frozen it will mash them
I purchased a meat tenderizer tool with 48 prongs to peirce the blueberries. I place the berries in a single layer on the freeze dryer trays,then pierce the berries. Works great and is fast!
A freeze dryer is my next big goal!
FYI-mice will eat through the mylar bags. They need to be stored in a food grade plastic bucket with a lid. I had this happen to me.
I love my freeze dryer but I'm having issues with vacuum error about every 3rd batch. Even after I defrost and clean it. I'm always calling Harvest Right for help. They keep sending me upgrades to download but the problem isn't fixed. Is anyone else having this issue.
Everyone says berries are pretty easy, but I've had the hardest time with them, never getting a successful run of cherries so far. Blueberries are lot of work if you want them to remain fully intact, otherwise they won't FD properly. I'm guessing that untreated frozen batch of blueberries you did here wont actually FD properly.
With ver 24 and newer (at least) you can mix non-frozen and frozen food with no issue. I do it all the time. Thanks for the video!
Another downside is they emit heat and they are loud. Things you need to think about. We love ours too.
Is it OK to put a mixture of freeze dried fruit together in a storage jar and then vacuum seal it?
I love my freeze dryer
Great presentation!
Are absolutely love freeze dried apples!!! I wish I could buy a freeze drier!!!!