Freeze Drying This Years Apples - 86 lbs

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Freeze Drying apples - 2021
We picked about 86 lbs of apples at the beginning of October. We picked about 26 lbs of Golden Delicious and about 60 lbs of Fuji apples. At the time of this video we had finished freeze drying 5 batches of the apples, have a batch in the Harvest Right, and 3 more batches in the freezer awaiting their turn, for a total of 9 freeze dryer loads.
Also, our new apple peeler arrived just in time to use on this years apples.
This is the orchard we've been going to for many years. / leonard-orchard-220997...
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Before buying a freeze dryer, perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; some people have problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!
When trying to decide what to freeze dry you can start by asking why.
Start by asking yourself this question. Why are you freeze drying food? Knowing this should help you decide what you should freeze dry first.
I'm freeze drying because:
Just to freeze dry leftovers?
You want to make your own food for camping/backpacking?
For if/when the SHTF?
For a short term emergency?
You have your own garden and want to freeze dry the food?
You love Costco but don't have a family of 6?
You are good at finding the food sales but only have 1 freezer?
When you cook homemade chili just for yourself you make 10 gallons? Because you have 3 full freezers and are worried about power outages?
If I knew then what I know now, I would have freeze dried things in a different order. Or maybe not, because I started freeze drying because we had 3 full freezers, I was thinking of getting another one, and I decided I should buy a walk-in freezer instead. I started looking into walk-ins and realized they were expensive to buy (even used ones) AND expensive to own and operate. Then I found out Harvest Right was making home sized freeze dryers. One of my first thoughts was "I like Mountain House!" I have used their food for backpacking almost 45 years and we even kept some in our travel trailer, for just in case.
Freeze dried food will stay fresh for many years and be ready and waiting when you need it.
We do videos showing how we are using our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer to freeze dry food for long term storage. (We have the medium size machine that we got in August of 2017) We talk about how to load and unload the freeze dryer, how to know if the food is dry, is it better to freeze dry raw food or cooked food, and do a few taste tests. Freeze dried food is also great for prepping or just for camping and snacking!

Опубликовано:

17 окт 2021

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Комментарии : 70

@lindapeterson3483 2 года назад

I like to sprinkle my snacking apples with a little cinnamon before I FD them. They are so delicious!

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

We have put a bit of cinnamon on some of our apple slices in past batches. They are good, but I could go either way with them. Pears, on the other-hand, are a must for cinnamon! We did these 2 1/2 years ago. Freeze drying pear slices with cinnamon ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BSssU5n3GA0.html

@lindapeterson3483 2 года назад

@@SchoolReports good to know. I have some pears I think I’ll do that with. Thanks for all you do. I really enjoy your channel.

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

@@lindapeterson3483 Thanks for watching, and thanks for mentioning sprinkling cinnamon on the apples. I had completely forgotten to suggest adding cinnamon, so I pinned your comment.

@lindapeterson3483 2 года назад

@@SchoolReports ❤️

@allisonbennett9825 8 месяцев назад

Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and systems. You have so much credibility and I’ve learned so much.

@SchoolReports 8 месяцев назад

Thanks so much for watching and commenting. The last of this years apples are going into the freeze dryer tomorrow or the next day. We did mostly little cubes with cinnamon this year. (Bought a new cutter to make the slices into cubes)

@debik6118 2 года назад

Awesome. Great video. Although I mostly FD other foods, apples are my favorite thing. I love, love love snacking on them. Better than any candy!

@sassyherbgardener7154 Год назад

Thank you for making your videos. I just found your channel today, and have already learned a lot! I was searching for how to stop the condensation from dripping down the HR door, and saw you make your insulation ring around the seal. Awesome!! We may make one. Thanks again!

@SchoolReports Год назад

Thanks for watching and for commenting! And don't forget the door disc. 😁 Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-erH1VDqNi80.html The door on my sister's new machine drips (a lot!) due to the condensation, and leaves puddles; unacceptable! If your machine is a new one like my sister's then it's going to be a little different than what I did for mine, because of space. We are working or adding these things to her machine and will be posting about in the near future. I had forgotten how much condensation happens on the cold fronts of the freeze dryers. It's absurd! I didn't put up with it with mine.

@dsboutdoors7301 2 года назад

As usual!! You still impressed me! Wish we had orchards like that here in Colorado. At least winter is coming and that will free up a lot of my time to do more FD ing. Again Thank You for sharing!

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

The u-pick orchard changed my favorite apple. I used to hate Golden Delicious apples until I picked them myself. Now Golden Delicious is my favorite apple for drying, apple sauce, pies, almost everything. But they don't keep long; you pretty much can't get a good one at the store. And with CA storage, a lot of apples at the store may not even be from the same year they were grown.

@dsboutdoors7301 2 года назад

@@SchoolReports The sad thing is. As I'm part owner of a wholesale nursery selling trees and shrubs some fruits. But the growing season here in CO. is so sporadic. We get a late frost in the spring no fruit. 😤😥

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

@@dsboutdoors7301 We have been there! No fruit some years due to warm February then freezing April. Then we have to go the the U-Pick which is only 800 ft lower.

@jsigmo Год назад

Something to try, when first opening the drain valve to relieve the vacuum, is to just barely crack the valve open so that the chamber fills very slowly. This is sort of frustratingly slow, but it seems like it's easier on everything. It may be entirely coincidental, but I find that my vacuum pump oil is always pristine with none of the discoloration or particulate contamination that others describe, even after long use. I figure any particles, ice, or liquid water that may be lurking near the vacuum pump exit opening in the chamber, or anywhere in the chamber won't be as likely to be swept up and get drawn into the pump or it's tubing. And flexing of the chamber and the various seals such as the wiring feed-through may be lessened by reducing the sudden shock of opening the drain valve rapidly. And I don't risk nasty old chunkage that's formed in the drain tube or valve area being sucked back into the chamber or onto the food in the finished batch. I do get impatient waiting for the door to pop open, but I think venting the chamber slowly seems prudent.

@SchoolReports Год назад

The biggest difference I've seen is that the new vacuum pumps are *WAY* better than the older vacuum pumps like I have. (and that other people who have described the issue of dirty oil probably have) The new pumps just stay clean! My sister has done more than 30 batches before draining the oil, and oil still comes as clean as when it went in. Cleaner then my machine's oil after a single batch. I clean my drain tube so I don't have stuff in there. Very good points about the thermal and pressure expansion and contractions of the components.

@jsigmo 9 месяцев назад

@@SchoolReports Yes. Mine has the newer "premium oil" vacuum pump, so perhaps it's the pump that makes such a big difference. The machine pops up with a reminder to change the pump oil every so often, and I do drain it and filter it and so far, have just added new oil each time. But I'm saving the filtered oil, and I suspect it will run just fine when I do start using it. HR's newer software versions also provide a bit of protection for the vacuum pumps, too. After the freeze cycle, the system initiates the "vacuum freezing" mode for a while. It turns on the pump and keeps the shelf heaters off. It looks at the chamber pressure and if the pressure doesn't drop far enough in a reasonable amount of time, it switches the vacuum pump off again and adds some extra freeze time. Then it tries the vacuum freeze mode again. It'll try this three times before giving up with a vacuum error. That helps make sure that the food is thoroughly frozen which protects the pump from sucking up a lot of water vapor in case unfrozen food boils when the vacuum is applied. That supposedly prolongs the life of the pump. It probably keeps the oil in a better condition, too.

@brianschindler1511 3 месяца назад

👍👍👍👍👍

@JipseeGirl 2 года назад

Sooo... Looks like I can put alot more apples on my trays than what I have been putting. Good tip about the citric mixture...

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

Dry apples are so good! I pack up to 8 lbs onto the 4 trays. I may have gone a bit overboard with the citric and ascorbic mixture. The state extension services sites I looked at said to use 1 teaspoon ascorbic acid powder per gallon of water and I used 1 1/2 teaspoons each, citric and ascorbic acid powder in just 3 quarts. It still seemed okay.

@debbiee6535 Год назад

Now you can take the peelings and the Coors and cook them down and make apple jelly as well

@SchoolReports Год назад

I can (and have) made a really good apple pie jam (chock full of chopped apple bits), but I don't make apple jelly, because I _hate_ jelly! Other people can make the jelly. Jam good, jelly bad! 🤣

@debbiee6535 Год назад

@@SchoolReports each is own I don't eat apple jelly

@judyjohnson1012 9 месяцев назад

How did you determine these apples were dry? You didn’t weigh them on camera? Thanks so much for these wonderful videos. I appreciate the way you explain everything.

@SchoolReports 9 месяцев назад

The older videos? 🤣 I have to apologize for many of my older videos. Even I hate to look at them! They may be okay if you already know about freeze drying. In my focus to keep them very short, most of my older, shorter videos are almost devoid of information! I tried hard to keep the videos down to 10 to 15 minutes, no matter what I had to cut out! I had just assumed that people watching them would already know about freeze drying, and had watched all my earlier videos leading up to each one, and therefore, they would make sense. Oops! Then I found out that half the viewers of each video have never seen any of my videos before and a large number had never even seen any freeze drying video before. That's when I switched to the longer format with the (somewhat) more repetitive content. (April 23rd, 2022 when I started my "100 Days: The First 50 Batches - Freeze Drying 500 lbs of Food" series:) 😁 I just had to realize that people know how to skip ahead!

@ThirteenKidsLater 2 года назад

What type of laser did you use for the apples? That was brilliant and would decrease headaches for me. I also appreciate how you use silicone mats and baking trays to prefreeze before storing in ziploc bags. I have a large freeze dryer and three quart sized ziplocks fill one tray. However, the product tends to freeze into a block and dry slower. Your method would solve that dilemma for me as well. Enjoying your channel. Thank you for sharing with us.

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

Having the "Laser guided apple peeler" made it so much easier to get the apple aligned right. What I used this time was an Infrared Thermometer with Laser that I already had. I'll show it in a video about the peeler in a few days. (There are good enough ones for as low as $20) But, before next years apples, I will probably buy a laser pointer. Either a Presentation laser pointer or just a cat toy pointer. As long as the laser switch can be locked on and is either rechargeable or uses batteries that are NOT the little button cell ones. If you pat the apple slices dry a bit before putting them on the baking trays it works a lot better. I forgot until I went to take them out of the pans.

@sandys.1891 Год назад

I own a FD too. I came looking to see how others loaded the trays because my two layer trays were so inefficient. TY I have two big baking sheets in the freezer loaded w/chopped apples waiting to go into the machine today.

@jsigmo Год назад

Right on! (About avoiding anything that uses a stack of the little "hearing aid" type batteries.) I found a nice little laser pointer that uses two AAA cells. I usually prefer AAs over AAAs because they cost exactly the same and have around double the amp-hour rating, but compared to those tiny little hearing aid type cells, even the AAAs are vastly superior. I'm going to have to try your laser alignment trick for the peeler, for sure! Thanks for the informative videos!

@ewcraigs 2 года назад

What is that lid you are using in place of the pad on the Harvestright?

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

It's a disc I made; here is the video: Making an Acrylic Disc Front for a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-erH1VDqNi80.html

@emailausdrucker 2 года назад

do you think an O2 absorber is needed when you have a pressure chamber?

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

I'm not sure I understand your question, I hope this answers it. The long term problem is gas permeability - oxygen is going to be going through the bag, slowly, forever. The better the bag the slower it happens. If you have oxygen absorbers in the bag they keep absorbing any oxygen that comes through.

@donkrider9666 2 года назад

So whats the purpose of the thermometer and what temps are you looking for?

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

The food is not dry if it's still cold. This doesn't work as well with loose things like apple slices, but it's my habit. The tray temperature is set for 115f for the apples. The thermometers are not really necessary, I just don't like to have to open the machine to check the food, and if it's not dry, add time. If it's not warm it's not done and I can add time well it's still running. Using this video for an example - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wn6v_9M905E.html I was looking to make sure all the thermometers get up to the temperature that the trays are set at, for at least a couple hours. I had the tray temp set for 110f for the milk. The bottom tray had been over 110f until the tray heaters turn off during the last 15 minutes of the final dry cycle. (it shows a lower temp in the video)

@lynnscott8286 2 года назад

How did you get the round slices? By cutting it differently?

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

By just cutting from the center outward after the peeler, corer, slicer.

@suprmn 2 года назад

Where did you find your scoop? That looks like a perfect fit. Enjoy your videos, thanks

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

It does work well for bagging. We "adjusted" a scoop we found on Amazon. This is the video of how we made it - Food Scoop For Freeze Dryer Tray ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-trs26E42Zho.html and this is an Amazon affiliate link to the scoop I used for the scoop project: amzn.to/3pdTB4J

@illadeligut Год назад

No issues piling them up like that? I was under the impression that you needed to do a single layer in the FD

@suprmn Год назад

I stack mine and have had no problems at all. It takes a little time to separate them without breaking them. I cut mine into half rings. Hope this helps

@illadeligut Год назад

@@suprmn awesome thanks, just got ours and this is very helpful

@mollyt9714 Год назад

Question, just got my 2022 HR, with the lastest software updated. I've had trouble doing pre frozen apple slices for some reason. I continually get a vacuum error on the freezing cycle. I've done trays of prefrozen tomato sauce, no issue. But something about the apples, it just freaks out. Any thoughts/advice? Thanks, love your channel and that you're so willing to share your knowledge!!! Game changer Sir!

@SchoolReports Год назад

I hate to say it this way, but, what an intriguing problem! I've been trying to think this through without being able to see it or try it. I don't think anything like this has happened with mine yet. This is the only thing that I've been able to come up with so far: Could the apples be very ripe and sweet (and therefore more sugary) and in need of a colder temperature, like ice cream (because the sugars cause it to have a lower freezing point), before starting the vacuum? If it still isn't completely frozen it would sublimate off a LOT of moisture too quickly and overwhelm the system. Sorry, right now that's all I have without doing it myself. If I think of anything else I'll come back here and add it. Every one else out there. - Has this ever happened to you? What did you figure out?

@mollyt9714 Год назад

@@SchoolReports they didn't taste additionally sweet to me. I am sending my logs to them tomorrow, so hopefully it'll show up and we can have a community ahh ha moment. I will definitely keep you in the loop!

@SchoolReports Год назад

Thanks so much for sharing! It would be fascinating to understand those results. (Maybe less fascinating and more frustrating when it's happening to you and not someone else) 😁

@mollyt9714 Год назад

@@SchoolReports update finally!!!! Turns out that my software version was a "u" and needed to be a "v" for the pump I have. So far I've dried 4 dz eggs and some tomato sauce. I will be trying apples again in the near future!

@SchoolReports Год назад

@@mollyt9714 😁 Good to hear!

@lynnscott8286 2 года назад

Does leaving the skins on hinder the drying?

@SchoolReports 2 года назад

No, it doesn't seem to be an issue, but if we want to use them for pie filling later, we found we need to peel them.

@kpowers9002 8 месяцев назад

During my drying cycles my new Medium dryer never gets above 10 degrees - any recommendations ? it’s a brand new med HR- when i tested the drying the heat worked- and mtorr are 51

@SchoolReports 8 месяцев назад

I'll put this here too, because someone else might see it and be able to help. I've never had this issue so I'm just going to be guessing a bit, but here goes:) So you already know, from your heat test, that the heaters can heat up, now the question is why aren't they heating up when you run a batch. Or, are they heating up and the display is lying. Where I'd start: Is the machine freeze drying? Is ice forming on the chamber walls? By any chance is the dry temperature turned way down in the custom settings? (I don't know if the new machines can go that low. Mine can, but my sister's machine is in use so I can't check it right now) I would start by checking the 'Tray Temperature' settings. Next, I'd check the actual temperature by putting a thermometer in the machine, on one of the trays or in the food. This would check to see if the display temperature is working or if it's lying and it really is heating. (Software vs hardware?)

@kpowers9002 8 месяцев назад

i got thermometer like yours so i’ll put in food and check all your suggestions! you responded so quick thanks. i’m using all your methods of weighing several times , wrapping my opening etc. i learn so much from you! thanks

@SchoolReports 8 месяцев назад

@@kpowers9002 I hope we can troubleshoot this and make it go. 🤣I would love to drive around the country (in a mini van camper conversion packed full of freeze dried food!) to help people to figure out their Freeze Dryer issues. (and make videos of it) 🤣 I know that most people hate it, but I love troubleshooting. But it's harder to do remotely.

@maryburt3114 Год назад

where do you get 2 gallon bags?

@SchoolReports Год назад

We got ours at Chef'Store. They are Dynamic brand resealable freezer bags. The price was just over 18 cents per bag. I know that Ziploc makes 2 gallon ones also, but I they tend to cost a lot more.

@Barbarabenhill Год назад

Mine were nice and white until I tried to rehydrate them. Then they turned brown. What did I do wrong?

@SchoolReports Год назад

(Feeding the algorithm with another response here.😇) We don't usually rehydrate our apple slices, we just eat them dry. Love them! After getting your question, I did a little test with 2 slices of the freeze dried apples. (I'll post a photo on the channel Community page) I took two small bowls of water and put a slice of apple in each. In one bowl I added some citric acid and ascorbic acid and the other is just plain water. Surprise! The slice that's in just plan water started to turned brown in just seconds. (Okay the seconds may have been more than 60, but it was quick.) I had thought that the fact that I had dipped them in citric acid and ascorbic acid water before freeze drying would have been enough. It's not.

@SchoolReports Год назад

Hi Barbara, I've posted the apple photo over on the Community page.

@johnbailley4468 8 месяцев назад

what is the best thickness for the freeze drier?

@SchoolReports 8 месяцев назад

The 'best' in what sense? The thickness of each individual piece of food, or the thickness of the food on the tray? It's mostly about the trade-off of time vs amount you can dry in a batch. Bigger pieces and/or more on a tray will be slower. Also, the rehydration time is much longer if the pieces are bigger. Consider this: Beef Stew - Homemade vs Mountain House ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w_p5j5oyX5M.htmlsi=EDnRU4eGT7rKTZNe&t=623

@johnbailley4468 8 месяцев назад

the thickness of the apple s splices. @@SchoolReports

@SchoolReports 8 месяцев назад

In that case, I love the thinner slices for snacking on! I've done some thicker slices and I have not liked them as much.

@vickiebonano2092 Год назад

How long does it take on average for apples to freeze dry?

@SchoolReports Год назад

I don't know for that batch because I didn't track most batches. This batch was about 41 hours ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HShE_KexX90.html This batch was about 39 1/2 hours ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ueSdOSjXfyM.html This batch was about 43 1/2 hours ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E0_yOqRIJBU.html

@vickiebonano2092 Год назад

@@SchoolReports Thanks so much. Just got my freeze dryer last week.

@SchoolReports Год назад

@@vickiebonano2092 The newer machines are faster and the thin apple slices (like in this video) will also dry faster. Plus, if we hadn't stuffed 10 lbs on the trays (like the other videos) it would have been faster too. BTW, I LOVE the thin slices; they're the best!