The Process of Freeze-Drying
Freeze-drying is a complex procedure of preserving fresh or already-cooked food by eliminating approximately 98% of the food’s moisture, leaving undamaged the food’s appearance, flavor, fragrance and nutritional value.
The process needs that the fresh or prepared food be rapidly frozen at temperatures as low as -50 ° C. The frozen food is after that placed into a vacuum chamber. This vacuum cleaner chamber reduces the stress, as well as raises the temperature to just about 0 ° C.
At this specific temperature as well as stress, the ice crystals in the food evaporate into water vapor, bypassing water’s fluid kind, through a procedure called sublimation.
This process maintains the cell framework and also nutritional content of the food, causing an item that, when rehydrated, really closely resembles the original food.
The procedure likewise protects against the water from being reabsorbed by the food and hence decreases its weight significantly.
The majority of food items such as fruits, vegetables as well as meats are well-suited to freeze-drying, and can be made use of for long-lasting food storage space as well as conservation.
The Process of Dehydration
Dehydrating food is a food conservation approach which has been made use of for centuries. Indigenous Americans dehydrated their buffalo eliminates in their hunting camps to make it less complex to move. Pemmican (a dehydrated concoction of buffalo meat blended with fat and also berries) was a staple of a number of the nomadic North American people. This low-heat dehydration process entailed either air drying (with nearby campfires), or sun drying strips of meat on drying out shelfs.
Dehydrators are a modern technique for slowly removing the wetness from food without in fact cooking it. A disadvantage of dehydration is the minimal amount of food which can be dried out at one time. The positive facet of dehydration is that this approach of processing for food storage can be quickly done in the house.
How Do These 2 Techniques Affect the Food?
Freeze-dried foods protect a lot of the original color, form, fragrance and also freshness of fruits, veggies and meats. Freeze-dried food does not usually include ingredients or preservatives, so it holds to its original form. And also the appearance, texture and taste of the food stays after re-hydration.
Unlike low-heat dehydration, freeze-drying allows for the conservation of pre-cooked meals, consisting of dishes such as soups, stews, stroganoff, and the like. An evident benefit is that since the dish was prepared in its whole before suspended animation, all you require to do is simply include water, after that warmth for a couple of minutes in order to create delicious dishes.
Rehydrating freeze-dried food takes simply a couple of minutes, just by adding boiling water. Some foods, like several fruits and vegetables, need no re-hydration prior to consuming.
Dehydrated foods shrink during handling as the moisture is gotten rid of. So the food item itself is substantially smaller sized than its original size.
The re-hydration time of dehydrated foods takes a bit longer than freeze-dried, however it stills preferences like the original form of the food. Some dehydrated foods include included components to improve flavors or help in conservation. As with freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, dehydrated fruits and vegetables can be eaten with no re-hydration.
Both methods of food conservation enhance the lasting storage space life of food. A lot of commercially produced freeze-dried as well as dehydrated foods have a life span of 15 to two decades, if appropriately packaged and stored in a trendy, completely dry environment.
Along with their being a reliable source of food in an emergency situation or lasting survival circumstance, because of their lightweight as well as simplicity of transportability, these foods are also great for taking on outdoor camping, hiking and searching journeys. They are additionally a smart choice to keep in an emergency situation road-side set for the cars and truck, or in your bug out bag.
If you select to keep these foods in your car as part of an emergency set, please keep in mind to rotate them periodically. Temperature levels in a cars and truck can reach extremes, both hot and cold. High warm along with continual temperature level variations add to quicker degradation of both dried as well as freeze-dried foods.
Which Kind is Better for Intake?
Every person is various, as well as everyone has their own individual preferences and also preferences. With that in mind, there are a few things to take into consideration prior to choosing in between freeze-dried or dehydrated food.
Home-grown vegetables and fruits are much better preserved by means of dehydration, given that the typical person can not manage the pricey machinery used in freeze-drying.
Foods used in day-to-day cooking and also meal preparation need to most likely be freeze-dried. This permits the food to be quickly re-hydrated as it is prepared before serving. If ease of access as well as portability are essential, than either sort of preserved food need to fulfill those particular needs. Once more, it refers individual preferences.
Basically, both dried as well as freeze-dried foods are outstanding options for lasting food storage space, in addition to for everyday use or for treking, outdoor camping, and so on. They both supply light-weight, portable, convenient foods. The main distinction is that freeze-dried foods often tend to much better protect the shape, structure and also tastes of the original food.
The majority of people will certainly locate that a combination will certainly function best for their needs. Single-item foods such as vegetables, potatoes, and also various other staples and grains are well-suited to low-heat dehydration. Suspended animation is better for meats as well as fruits (whose texture can be maintained), and also for pre-cooked dishes with a selection of active ingredients such as soups, stews as well as sauces.
As you incorporate freeze-dried and also dehydrated foods into your way of living, whether for outdoor camping and also recreation, benefit, or as a survival strategy, you will find out which products you favor to be dehydrated, as well as which you favor to be freeze-dried. In either instance, be ensured that your selections will use the comfort of understanding that you have a reliable source of food in essentially any type of scenario.