The Procedure of Freeze-Drying
Freeze-drying is a intricate method of preserving new or currently-cooked food by eliminating up to ninety eight% of the food’s moisture, leaving intact the food’s texture, flavor, aroma and dietary worth.
The procedure demands that the fresh or cooked meals be rapidly frozen at temperatures as low as -50°C. The frozen meals is then positioned into a vacuum chamber. This vacuum chamber lowers the pressure, and raises the temperature to just about 0°C.
At this certain temperature and pressure, the ice crystals in the food evaporate into h2o vapor, bypassing water’s liquid form, by way of a process referred to as sublimation.
This process preserves the cell composition and dietary content material of the meals, resulting in a item that, when rehydrated, extremely closely resembles the original meals.
The process also helps prevent the water from getting reabsorbed by the meals and as a result decreases its excess weight considerably.
Most foodstuff objects these kinds of as fruits, greens and meats are nicely-suited to freeze-drying, and can be used for prolonged-phrase meals storage and preservation.
The Procedure of Dehydration
Dehydrating meals is a foodstuff preservation approach which has been utilized for centuries. Indigenous Individuals dehydrated their buffalo kills in their hunting camps to make it simpler to transportation. Pemmican (a dehydrated concoction of buffalo meat blended with fat and berries) was a staple of several of the nomadic North American tribes. This low-heat dehydration method involved both air drying (with close by campfires), or solar drying strips of meat on drying racks.
Dehydrators are a modern technique for slowly and gradually eliminating the moisture from meals without having in fact cooking it. A drawback of dehydration is the minimal volume of foodstuff which can be dried at 1 time. The constructive factor of dehydration is that this technique of processing for foods storage can be very easily accomplished at home.
How Do These Two Strategies Affect the Meals?
Freeze-dried meals maintain much of the authentic coloration, condition, aroma and freshness of fruits, greens and meats. Freeze-dried meals does not normally have additives or preservatives, so it remains real to its unique form. And the appear, texture and flavor of the foodstuff continues to be soon after re-hydration.
Unlike reduced-warmth dehydration, freeze-drying makes it possible for for the preservation of pre-cooked foods, including recipes such as soups, stews, stroganoff, and the like. An evident reward is that since the food was prepared in its entirety prior to freeze-drying, all you want to do is merely insert water, then warmth for a few minutes in order to produce sumptuous meals.
Rehydrating freeze-dried meals normally takes just a handful of minutes, basically by including boiling h2o. Some foods, like a lot of fruits and vegetables, need no re-hydration just before consuming.
Dehydrated meals shrink during processing as the dampness is removed. So the foods product alone is considerably smaller sized than its authentic dimensions.
The re-hydration time of dehydrated foodstuff will take a bit longer than freeze-dried, but it stills preferences like the original sort of the meals. Some dehydrated foodstuff have added components to enhance flavors or help in preservation. As with Caribbean food in Hong Kong -dried fruits and vegetables, dehydrated fruits and vegetables can be eaten without any re-hydration.
Both approaches of food preservation enhance the lengthy-phrase storage lifestyle of meals. Most commercially developed freeze-dried and dehydrated food items have a shelf daily life of 15 to 20 a long time, if appropriately packaged and saved in a amazing, dry atmosphere.
In addition to their currently being a reputable resource of foods in an emergency or prolonged-time period survival scenario, since of their light-weight bodyweight and simplicity of portability, these foodstuff are also wonderful for having on camping, hiking and looking excursions. They are also a sensible option to maintain in an emergency road-aspect package for the automobile, or in your bug out bag.
If you pick to keep these food items in your car as component of an unexpected emergency kit, you should keep in mind to rotate them periodically. Temperatures in a car can get to extremes, the two very hot and cold. Substantial heat as properly as steady temperature fluctuations lead to faster degradation of the two dehydrated and freeze-dried meals.
Which Kind is Much better for Usage?
Every person is different, and each particular person has their very own personal preferences and preferences. With that in mind, there are a handful of issues to take into account prior to making a choice amongst freeze-dried or dehydrated food.
Home-developed fruits and greens are better preserved through dehydration, since the regular person can’t manage the pricey equipment employed in freeze-drying.
Meals utilized in every day cooking and meal preparation ought to possibly be freeze-dried. This permits the meals to be rapidly re-hydrated as it is cooked prior to serving. If accessibility and portability are crucial, than either type of preserved meals ought to meet up with those specific requirements. When yet again, it really is a issue of private preferences.
In a nutshell, both dehydrated and freeze-dried food items are excellent alternatives for lengthy-phrase food storage, as effectively as for day-to-day use or for hiking, camping, and so forth. They both provide mild-excess weight, moveable, hassle-free meals. The principal big difference is that freeze-dried meals tend to much better protect the form, texture and flavors of the unique foods.
Most people will discover that a mix will function ideal for their wants. Single-item food items this sort of as veggies, potatoes, and other staples and grains are nicely-suited to minimal-warmth dehydration. Freeze-drying is more proper for meats and fruits (whose texture can be preserved), and for pre-cooked meals with a assortment of elements these kinds of as soups, stews and sauces.