Not much. Give me a couple minutes and check your email.
Great site. I can see why you dropped that much cash for it. I'd really like to learn more about how the unit works. I have spent my budget and more recently, but could see one of these being a good investment. We will see what next year brings.
https://harvestright.com/faqs/
I guess this is the same site, just more mechanics.
Wow, that little unit gets temperature down to -50degs. That's one tough little a/c unit in there. It looks like the oil needs to be filtered as it absorbs the moisture when it evaporates off as a gas. Is it very involved to filter the oil?Yep. Somewhere in my email is a recipe book that has detail on what can be freeze dried. I'll look for it.
I'm so glad it's working good for you! I hope the prices come down in the future on the buggars so I can get one too....Okay folks, here is an update on freeze drying.
We have run the machine through several cycles. The thing is smart, so it freezes everything for 9 hours, then starts the dry cycle. It sets the dry time, based on moisture it detects inside the machine. What I find odd is how it works. The trays fit in a rack inside a tube. When the dry cycle starts, it pulls a vacuum on the chamber, then heats the trays (not the chamber) to about 115 or 120 degrees. This forces remaining moisture out of the food, and ice forms on the inside of the chamber. And it does this until it thinks it is finished.
Maintenance: so far, none. I filter the vacuum pump oil each cycle as it gets moisture in it. I've lost very little oil, other than what the filter soaked up on the first run.
Results: so far, great. We have run tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms and a lot of other stuff through it and had no problems at all. We even ran sour cream through it. Came out as powder. Pretty cool.
Of course, a week after we got ours they had a sale and we could've gotten the next size up for the same price. That's my normal luck....
We sun-dried our carrots, onions, tomatoes and a few other veggies. Cut them up blanched in water with a little citric acid put them out in the sun on drying racks that's covered with shade netting. Took between 3 to 4 days here. Then we vacuum sealed everything. We add it to stews etc. We have sealed the bags about 6 years ago and they are still tasty.I want to try some carrot chips. I will try par boiling in a syrup first to add a little more sweetness. Anyone else tried dehydrated carrots?
The lettuce may turn out good. I tried using kale as a spice and it was repulsive! Celery and chives are two of my favorites so far for homemade spices.I have got a ton of Arugula lettuce in the garden and I can not seem to eat it fast enough. It probably doesn't help that I pick the outer leaves to eat and leave the rest to continue growing. What can I say, why not just let it continue to grow instead of replanting so you don't use seeds if you don't have to. I like to stretch all my greens this way. I use arugula mainly fresh in salads, but also do cook with mustard greens for a milder taste. The curly leaf mustard has more of a punch verses the traditional mustard I normally plant, but the curly was at the feed store so thought I would give it a try.
Soooo.... I have decided to dry the arugula, then crush to use in cooking as a seasoning. It has a nice mild peppery flavor so think it will be good to use in tomato type dishes, like eggplant parmesan or roasted chicken.
You need to mix it with something! I tried chips too, but still wasn’t a fan. Too bad as the stuff literally grew fantastic here. It tried to take over the whole garden. At least if shtf ever happens I know I could survive on it, just not enjoyably.I like baked kale chips with a little salt, but haven't tried making them into a seasoning. Kale and cranberry salad is very good too, probably my favorite way to eat it in fact.
Hey Greg, how is the freeze drier working out? Still good I hope. And have you tried eating anything you have done?
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