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Freeze Dried Food

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Freeze drying can involved various approaches, but there are three main steps. The first step is the actual freezing process. One needs a machine of some sort that will drop the temperature of the food stuff below its "triple point". The triple point of a food is the point at which the solid and liquid fazes of a food can co-exist. Larger crystals work out better in this process, and one can accomplish a yield of larger crystals when the process is gradual or cycles up and down. However if the object of freezing is based on formerly living cells, the cells walls will tend to break. In any case it takes some kind of mechanical refrigeration process, to create this level. If this step in the process is not well done, the results will not be good.

In the second phase there is a very slow drying process where the water is sublimated. Ideally no more than five percent of the moisture is eliminated. If the process is speeded up the material can be damages. This stage involves the creation of a partial vacuum. The final state removes most of the rest of the water, but there is going to be some minimal water in the product. The dehydration is never complete. At some point the vacuum is eliminated. There is much more to these three steps, but this summary gives an abbreviated overall sense of what needs to be a very careful and sophisticated process.

Freeze drying is superior to dehydration in many respects. Greater integrity of the structure and texture of the product is maintained. The original flavors are also more vibrant. If the product is promptly sealed, the food can be stored at room temperature for a longer period of time. The product re-hydrates better because there are not the pores that result from air and water that has left these pores in the product through dehydration. The food is pure and has maintained most of it nutritional value. It is a perfect product for athletes for instance who need quick nutrition on site.

This process is not used with food as much as in other industries such as pharmaceuticals. On the other hand the reduction in volume and the light weight is ideal for small efficient packaging, and easy transportation. Hikers and campers are good examples of those who can greatly benefit from such food when packaged efficiently. Astronauts have perhaps most famously used this food out in space. Other common uses are cereals, coffee and herbs.

One unique product that has been developed and celebrated with this process is freeze dried ice cream. Interestingly enough the traditional way to each this ice cream is to simply pop beads of ice cream in your mouth. It is ice cream and springs into a flavorful presence in your mouth.

There is an increasing volume and variety of this food. This is because in spite of the sophisticated process the yield is such high quality food in this mode, that the demand is increasing dramatically. It is likely that this food will be recognized increasingly as the food of the future.