»Difference between dehydrating and freeze drying«
Often times when supply exceeds demand, agricultural produce floods the market and plenty of them get spoilt but these can be dried and stored.
Drying can be either by dehydrating or freeze drying. Dehydration has been in existence for a very long time and in this, a heated fan or the sun is used to dry the food. Due to the heat used in dehydration, about half of the nutrients are lost and it also changes the texture and appearance of the food.
Freeze dried foods
Freeze drying is much more complex and requires special equipment. In this, the food is cooled to a very low temperature of about -40 degrees until frozen. A vacuum is created around the food and a slowly raising temperature turns the water in the food into a gas.
In freeze drying, the food does not shrink and it does not become hard and almost all the nutritional content of the food is retained.
Freeze dried food re-hydrates easily, looks and tastes more less the food before it was processed.
Freeze drying tips
A freeze dryer can run for between 12 to 48 hours and during that time, it can be loud. Choose a location where you wont mind about the noise.
Ensure you have a stand for the freeze dryer to sit on, freeze similar items and chop them into small pieces.
Understand how to use the freeze dryer before using it. This can be through reading the user manual or using information from the internet.
