As I've shown you, the Small Harvest Right Freeze Dryer is the most affordable freeze dryer. However, if that's not what appeals to you, I know you can't go wrong with the other models. After all, I own the large model.

Only in recent years has the amount of sugar consumed in the American diet been questioned. About half of the total energy consumed in the average U.S. diet is from carbohydrates.

So they have been sitting in my freezer awaiting a time when I was prepared to deal with them - I've told him several times that he isn't going to get usable raspberries out of this - just raspberry powder. I don't think he believes me!

The only way I know to filter the water vapor out would be a cold trap. They usually use liquid nitrogen or dry ice to keep the temperature low enough that all the water condenses out. Obviously you would need a supply of the liquid nitrogen or dry ice that would probably not be cost effective for most of us. The other option to get that cold would be to use a cryocooler and build a cold trap around it. It could be done, but would be pretty expensive. I've been watching some electronics on ebay that have cryocoolers in them, but the cheapest I've seen is around $600. Still not a cheap option, but you wouldn't need dry ice or liquid nitrogen to feed it.

Granted, most of that time is the freeze dryer doing all the work, but the process is not without effort. Once the food is ready it must be put into appropriate containers with oxygen absorbers and sealed properly so they can last.

You can count on me sticking around to talk about the food side of things! My wife looked at me a little oddly when I got the freeze dryer, but now she's a fan too. I'm discovering things that it can do that I hadn't expected, such as making low carb snacks.

Granted, most of that time is the freeze dryer doing all the work, but the process is not without effort. Once the food is ready it must be put into appropriate containers with oxygen absorbers and sealed properly so they can last.

These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

14 Posted December 16, 2015 (edited) On 7/31/2015 at 11:12 PM, TonyC said: Somehow this post got posted twice so I'll edit the second one with some more useful information. I remember reading somewhere in this thread where somebody was asking how long you run the freeze cycle with pre-frozen food. I have my chest freezer set to -12F, and I usually let the freeze dryer cool for an hour before I put the frozen food in. After I load the food in I wait another half hour to start the drying process. I've had a lot of cycles that the Completa time between pulling one batch out and starting the drying cycle on the next is around 2 hours. I'm running mine in a cold garage, so it cools down pretty quickly. If you have yours in a warm room it would probably take a little longer.

Most other methods for extracting water also destroy enzymes and terpenes due to heat being used in the extraction process. Because freeze drying does not use heat during operation, the enzymes and terpenes in freeze dried products are not destroyed.

Ready to shop for a Harvest Right freeze-dryer? I use and recommend the medium-sized unit. Click here to shop for current promotions and sale prices.

Harvest Right Freeze Dryers preserve food that looks and tastes better than store-bought freeze-dried food and at a total cost that is thousands less.

Before you know it, you’ll be storing food and experiencing the many joys that website cooking has to offer.

Have an understanding of which kind of food pretreatment is needed to use the device. To ensure the freeze-drying approach is productive, you’ll must understand how to get ready food.