If you’ve heard about freeze drying food and packaging, and have been curious about this, you’re not the only one. Many people want foods that are shelf-stable, and according to the current reports, this trend has grown. A lot of customers are moving towards items that aren’t perishable, and they want to have foods that are freeze-dried, making this immensely popular.
For those just learning about this, you might wonder what it is, and here, we’ll go over this newfound technology, and why people are jumping on this.
What is It?
This is basically called lyophilization, which is basically the dehydration of food, where the moisture is then taken out, and it prevents the spoilage of items, building a better shelf life.
Normal dehydration gets rid of a bit of the heat, but freeze drying is done on super cold levels of temperatures.
This is actually considered to be the ultimate method to dry things, since this preserves various nutrients, the compounds, the texture, the color, even food flavor. But the downside to this, is that it can cost a lot, which is why this wasn’t limited to food production for those who are in space, specialty foods, and some sports foods that athletes eat.
Nowadays though, there is more freeze dried foods than ever before, including convenience store foods and the like, and there are many companies getting onto this as well.
How this works
It’s a process, and it uses something called sublimation, which is basically a process of changing the water that’s free within foods from solid into glasses, such as water vapor, without hitting the liquid levels either. It’s complicated, and it requires three parts.
The first, is the freezing part, which is the most important. It gets below triple point, which is another word for past the different phases, and is usually done with atmospheric pressure.
Then, after that you get sublimation, the drying part of this, lowering your pressures, and adding the heat to make this start to sublimate. This creates a vacuum that controls some pressures, speeding up the process of this as well.
Finally, you’ve got absorption, and this is the process that’s the second part of the phase of drying, where it gets rid of the water that’s not frozen in there, and it usually increases this temperature to slightly past 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
The foods to Try
There are tons of foods that can be freeze dried, but some of the most common ones are as follows: \– veggies and fruits
- Grains and some legumes
- Teas, coffee, and juices
- Whole meals
- Legumes and grains
- Meats, eggs and seafood
- Sweeteners and some spices in liquid form
Some of the most popular freeze-dried foods that people like to have are strawberries, bananas, milk, coffee that’s instant, chili con carne, syrup, and also pad Thai.
These are usually stored and packaged within different spaces, and when it’s done correctly, this can last up to 25 years. How does it make it necessary? Well, usually the environment protects this.
It needs to be in areas that are cool, before 70 degrees, are nice and dry so that they’re not humid, don’t have oxygen in there, since it can reduce the oxidation from happening, and finally, it has to be dark, since some of the antioxidants will decrease when the sunlight hits them
If you’re interested in these foods, consider adding these to your lists of foods to package, and also some of the other great foods that you can have as well. Try it today to see if you like it.