Freeze Drying Strawberries Fresh Sliced - Batches 626 & 629

[@SchoolReports]

Want to support the channel? Buy me a coffee :-) www.buymeacoffee.com/DanZm If you are thinking of buying a freeze dryer, please consider supporting us by purchasing through our affiliate link. It helps us and costs you nothing! affiliates.harvestright.com/995.html Before buying a freeze dryer perhaps research to find out more about the downside of the machine; like with any big machine, some people say they have had problems with their machine and it's big and heavy and hard to return!

[@Judten1]

LOVE THE T-SHIRT! Thank you for another great video.

[@SchoolReports]

Thanks! 🤣You're going to have to be a bit more specific this time, it was a 4-shirt video! 😇

[@Judten1]

@@SchoolReports Boy I’m batting zero tonight! 🤣 The squirrel T-shirt was my favorite. 🙏🏻

[@SchoolReports]

@@Judten1 I don't mind at all. The first 2 shirts were Christmas presents last year made by #1 son. Great shirts! (I'm hoping for more this year - I only have a couple hundred printed shirts) The "Explain" shirt was one I wore, _a lot_ when I taught 3D design and printing classes (elective classes) at a couple of local charter schools. Thanks for all the comments, it helps feed the YT algorithm and it'll show the videos to more people! 😁

[@robingirven4570]

I never knew strawberries were supposed to be red all the way through, until I started growing my own. The taste difference is amazing! I mean, I use what I can get my hands on, of course, but in the summer, mine are best. We grow everbearing. Right now I have about 150 plants!

[@SchoolReports]

I wish I could grow my own again. It's just so much of a fight with the wildlife here. Last year the squirrels took *every* walnut from both trees! Most people have no idea what their food goes through to get to them - picked early, storage, transportation, gassed to ripen, etc. In my upcoming video (batches 627, 628 & 630), I hope to touch on CA and MA storage, as it pertains to those pears.

[@robingirven4570]

@@SchoolReports we have fenced everything in. Our lab/pit mix thinks he’s a guardian livestock dog and that includes squirrels 🤣 Have you thought about a greenstalk? I cover those with the bug netting, squirrels don’t seem to bother them 🤷‍♀️

[@SchoolReports]

@@robingirven4570 🤣 I hadn't even thought about using containers. Something like the Greenstalk (or any vertical growing system) could be a good way to go on our back decks of the upper stories. Our squirrels would show up in a pack and tie up your dog and then tease him while they took the nuts! I've had them run right past me, up the tree, grab the nuts and go right back past me. The deer get the other low items.

[@CedarGroveBoardingGrooming]

Thanks Phil! I bought quite a few of these when they had their introductory special!

[@SchoolReports]

Thanks! - But not Phil😁 - Quite a few strawberries? They are great!

[@brantdbart3]

That shirt! Spot on.

[@SchoolReports]

They lie so often, so boldly, so obviously, how can anyone believe anything they have to say?

[@AddictOfLearning]

I personally would enjoy seeing you talk about the ballast (sp?). I dont understand yet why the addition of air helps keep the oil cleaner.

[@SchoolReports]

Good idea, I'll have to do that some time. The simple science behind gas ballast valves www.leybold.com/en/knowledge/blog/the-simple-science-behind-gas-ballast-valves

[@AddictOfLearning]

​@@SchoolReportsthanks, that was a quick read and informative!

[@dmerth]

Are you a former scientist? Very thorough. Have you considered doing examining the strawberries under a microscope to check the status of the cell structure? Are the cells broken one way and not the other method? Great job. You have more patience than me weighing and bagging stuff. I just scored 24 lbs of strawberries for $24. I just threw them in... some sliced. Some whole. They filled 8 trays. Five I put in the machine right away and the other 3 into the regular freezer for the next batch. Edit... Had to add... love the Defund the Media shirt LOL.

[@SchoolReports]

🤣 Thanks! I had to go through the video a bit to see the shirts. This video did have a good set of shirts:) What a great score - 24 for 24! Whole strawberries can take quite a while to finish, depending on how big they are. Unfortunately I sold our microscope after the kids graduated and no longer needed it. Now I kind of wished I'd keep it. I don't think it would make much of a noticeable difference with respect to the cutting, but we have seen a huge difference with how fruit turns out when we start with Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) fruit. Almost all the IQF fruit we have freeze dried was collapsed at least a very noticeable amount. It would be great to be able to check the cell structure of samples, before and after, of both freeze dried from fresh and IQF foods. One reason they use the IQF process is to keep the ice crystals small and that may no be what we always want for freeze drying. Here is what the Senior VP of manufacturing says here about ice crystals - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hauyp6Z6i7GSh5o (sometimes bigger is better) No, never a scientist. 😁 My first career was in the food industry (20+ years - for a gourmet fruit & bakery company) where, along with my main job, I did some teaching. (Process improvement and quality assurance) After leaving the company I was a for a few years photographer, next a homeschool dad where I homeschooled our kids in conjunction with charter schools. That morphed into me teaching elective classes at a couple local charter schools geared towards home-school families (3D Design and Printing for 3+ years for 6th - 8th grades), and now another idiot on KZbin! I think I learned more while homeschooling our kids, and teaching, than I ever did while going to school. I highly recommend teaching as a way to learn.

[@trudythomas1611]

I noticed you have a couple different scales. Do you have a favorite? One that you think is better than the other? Just learning and appreciate your thoroughness.

[@SchoolReports]

This is the silver one in the videos. Escali Primo Kitchen Scale amzn.to/3r8VqRe It's almost 12 years old and the first 6 years of life it's were spent in our kitchen. When we started using it for freeze drying all the time, we replaced it with another one of the same model, except blue. We've been very happy with them. But that wasn't your question. I think because of it's accuracy, durability, (at least for us), and price, I would still recommend it. The other scale I use a lot, especially for bagging, is this one: Etekcity Kitchen Scale11lb/5kg amzn.to/3K3ajhY I really like that it goes to 1/10s of a gram increments, but it does sometimes drift a bit and I have to re-zero, and for weight the whole trays it seems a bit too sensitive. The slightest breeze will change the weight by grams. And, I love this scale that my son uses for coffee - Coffee Scale amzn.to/3K8Andg I may try it for a bagging scale. I'm sure that there are even better ones, and maybe people can add their favorites.

[@hiflyer747]

Love your videos, thank you! Have you thought about writing a book/manual with your methodology & experiences?

[@SchoolReports]

Thanks so much for the kind words! (And of course, thanks for watching and for commenting!) I would love to have the ability to write something, but I can barely manage to write captions in the videos or answer comments. 😁 Maybe I could do something in the style of a question and answer page. (FAQ?) I do try to answer any question anyone asks in the comments, either in the comments and/or in a video, if visuals are needed.

[@thefuzzman9833]

Hi Dan, these strawberries look awesome, mine always look extra dried out and shriveled. I might need to lower my overall tray temp. I would be very interested to learn about the baffle, I too struggle with the oil after one single batch. Did you ever get that file i sent over with the labeling setup i use (inspired from you of course!).

[@SchoolReports]

My fresh strawberries have always come out well and my store-bought prefrozen (IQF) strawberries have mostly shrunk/shriveled. With the prefrozen (IQF) strawberries we've had better luck if we let them warm up to just under the freezing point of the frozen strawberries, somewhere around 28 to 30ºf (I don't really know the correct temperature) and then I'd freeze them slowly. (regular freezer speed) Of course, there are probably other variables that I haven't/couldn't take into account, such as the strawberry cultivars and the ripeness. Maybe something as simple as the freeze dryer is pressure cycling just right (wrong) to cause the collapse - but if that's the case, why do the IQF strawberries collapse but not the home frozen? A continuous flow oil filter system can help a lot with keeping the oil cleaner. 😁 The premier oil vacuum pump that Harvest Right is shipping is amazing. We changed the oil in my sisters' machine at about 40 batches and it was still cleaner than mine after 1 batch if I weren't using my filter system. I did receive your message. Thanks. I'm slowly looking into a label printer.

[@ciliap]

What would you do with prefrozen berries in the store? I picked a ton, sliced them and froze them in bags I had zero time to deal....someone told me I should consider semi thawing, blending and them forming them up and creating strawberry powder :) Thoughts

[@SchoolReports]

Not sure I understand, I'll give it a shot. (for this I'm assuming the goal is ending up with slices that don't collapse like the IQF one do) If I had fresh strawberries (like the ones in this video) and had sliced and froze them, I'd just freeze dry them like I did in this video. If they are frozen in too big of a chunk to easily fit on the trays I'd break them apart just enough to get them on the trays and freeze dry them as whole as possible. I wouldn't thaw them at all. On the other-hand, if I had a bunch of store bought prefrozen (IQF) strawberries I would probably handle it a bit differently. With those I'd let them warm up to just _under_ the freezing point of the frozen strawberries, somewhere around 28 to 30ºf (I don't really know the correct temperature) and then I'd freeze them slowly. (regular freezer speed) If I were after powder, I would wait until the first _Dry Check_ weight check, powder them at that point, put them back in for the final dry, and carry on as usual.

[@murphreport]

Great video. Do you have a pdf of your record keeper or labels?

[@SchoolReports]

I'm not sure if this covers what you're asking for. We use an OpenOffice spreadsheet to track and sort all the bag data and bin locations, and we keep a fairly updated printed copy of the spreadsheet. Of course we can sort by food, location and/or date. Inventory Tracking - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWeXnYSEiq2DZ5osi=_6eIxXXe4NNUXeWw&t=424 Also, here is a bit about how we do our storage racks. (Storage systems are very personal. Ours may not work for anyone else) Freeze Dried Food Bins/Racks - kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3exdJiiidiaqMksi=vE8K1EvdOZUkOc9V This what we've been using for labeling for over 10 months now - Trying Out My New Thermal Label Printer - kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGXYfop7e92CnaMsi=E3lDZz74FYxs8xvA

[@mikesfarmmikesfarm3977]

all new HR freeze dryers now have 5 trays with new trayholder, but the height for all 5 trays = old height for 4 trays. I am asking you because of your experience, would you prefer 4 orig trays or 5 trays that hold less vertically ?

[@SchoolReports]

I assume you mean all new _medium_ HR freeze dryers have 5 trays. The small will have 4 instead of 3, and the large 6 instead of 5, and 7 instead of 6 in the X-Large I would much rather have more trays that I could then load with less per tray and still end up with the same total. More thinner layer should dry quicker and more evenly.

[@bobeinbecker933]

How are you slicing the fruit? Food processor?

[@SchoolReports]

I used a Spam slicer. See at 1:45

[@bobeinbecker933]

@@SchoolReports I saw it after I asked

[@SchoolReports]

@@bobeinbecker933 😁 Easy to miss, it's only on screen for a few seconds.

[@beatriceannbaker3350]

I’m planning on doing frozen strawberries from Sam’s club tomorrow. I bought 8 pounds. This will be my first fruit. I’ve mainly done meals, meats and side dishes. I saw your 7 categories list and I’m not that organized I guess.

[@SchoolReports]

What form are your strawberries? I assume they are IQF; are they whole, sliced or cubed? We've found that the prefrozen ones (most fruits) tend to shrink/collapse, whereas to fresh one never have. I think I understand why (maybe) but we're still trying to prove/confirm it.

[@beatriceannbaker3350]

@@SchoolReports yes sliced frozen from Sam’s. If they don’t work I could just grind them to powder I feel like. Decided at the last minute to toss in the 8 pounds of smoked turkey. Turkeys were 99 cents a pound so I smoked 6 of them this holiday season and chopped it up. That should be done in 36-48 hours depending on my work schedule.

[@SchoolReports]

@@beatriceannbaker3350 Freeze dried smoked turkey is great! The sliced strawberries will work great, they may just shrink some. Rehydrating Freeze Dried Blueberries and Strawberries kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGTImWp5hcerY6csi=tLWVvFBmlqi27gIq&t=309 Freeze Dried Strawberries - Powdered and Added to Frosting kzbin.info/www/bejne/emPbiIeNj8itrrssi=ZY1sQ4pklZeeVCb_

[@RedShiftedDollar]

Freeze dried strawberries from the store are almost always slightly shriveled. This is a sign they dehydrate first to make the freeze drying process consume less energy as a cost and time saving measure. I have not been able to find a fully freeze dried strawberry in the store after checking multiple brands. I'm sure they are out there, but keep an eye out for pre-dried freeze-dried foods. It's very tempting for the commercial producers to air dry as much as possible first because starting with less moisture makes their business more profitable.

[@SchoolReports]

Great observation. I haven't had multiple brands of freeze dried strawberries so I haven't seen it first hand. My sister recently gave me a #10 can of commercially freeze dried strawberries; I'll have to open it and compare it to my homemade. (Thanks for the video idea!) Another thing that tends to make fruits shrivel some during freeze drying is if the fruit was IQF. The fast freezing keeps the ice crystals small which isn't great for freeze drying. They may freeze dry using higher tray temperatures, which is faster, but can also make some fruits shrivel. More batches in a given time frame is more profitable but the end product may not be as nice. I love how good our homemade strawberries look.

[@RedShiftedDollar]

@@SchoolReports I’ve had strawberries from Aldi and Target. Aldi’s were noticeably more shriveled than the Target brand. But the Target ones still had a slight shrivel. I’ve never had home freeze dried ones so maybe that tiny bit of shrivel is just a result of the freeze drying process and not a 5-10% air dry as I suspected. But it seems it’s possible to run all degrees of dehydration through the freeze dryer as a secondary process. Full dehydration followed by freeze drying might result in a more dense candy-like texture, or it might fail to freeze dry properly. Then on the other extreme you have full freeze dried which results in a low density crispy foam texture. Then 90, 80, 70% and everything in between can tune the texture properties. I noticed shriveling in the Aldi’s apples and mangoes too. But I still consider them all to be true freeze dried products even if some air drying was done first. They still have the taste and texture of freeze dried but they definitely are not all the same quality.

[@SchoolReports]

@@RedShiftedDollar The can of strawberries my sister gave me is from Augason Farms. Almost all fruits we have done from fresh have done great without shriveling except mangoes. A lot of the fruits we've bought prefrozen have tended to shrink/shrivel. All the mangoes (and most pineapple) I've done have collapsed/shriveled, whether fresh or bought prefrozen. (I haven't experimented with different try temps to see how much that helps) In this other video you can see how much some prefrozen peach and strawberry cubes shrank. A lot. - kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3XNZ3WNab-Vgqcsi=Yjr6Xf0kjpjyDTga

[@RedShiftedDollar]

@@SchoolReports Interesting. I always thought that shriveling was caused by liquid surface tension that pulls in on the cellular structure, and as the water leaves and creates voids in its place, the surface tension force causes these voids to collapse. But it must be more complex than that because I really doubt the liquid phase is being created. But now that I think about it, I’m wondering if the cellular structure on the molecular level is acting like a bunch of chambers inside the fruit. As heat is applied, the solid sublimates into gaseous H2O which is trying to migrate out to escape. If the food can trap the gas, it might be able to build up enough local pressure inside the fruit to cause a pressure rise above the critical point, especially at the higher temperatures. So although the void of the vacuum chamber is at proper vacuum according to the gauge, the inside of the fruit might be at elevated pressure. This would enable liquid and subsequent surface tension related shrinking. Often times fruit’s cellular structure is damaged by freezing which causes it to go mush upon thawing. This cellular damage probably enables gas to escape more easily which will enable less shriveling for these kinds of fruits. I’m wondering if the fruits that experience the most shrinkage are the ones that hold up the best to thawing. This would indicate a more intact internal structure that is not damaged by freezing, so when sublimation occurs it traps the gas and builds pressure enabling a liquid phase and corresponding shrinkage upon drying. Anyways I enjoy thinking about these kinds of things. Cheers!

[@RedShiftedDollar]

@@SchoolReports OK a few more thoughts. You mentioned flash freezing was more likely to cause shriveling. I wonder if this is because flash freezing’s smaller crystal structure is less likely to damage the cellular structure. This would make flash frozen foods seem more fresh for regular consumers due to less mushiness upon thawing, but would cause shriveling in freeze drying due to the increased ability for the food to trap gas and build pressure in excess of the critical pressure. This also seems to explain why lower temperatures have less shriveling too. A lower temperature decreases the sublimation rate and gives the gas more time to escape without building pressure.

[@samiam9620]

I defunded the media several years ago 😁

[@SchoolReports]

👍

[@hydej1667]

🍓 🙂 🐸 ❤ 😃 😋 🍓

[@Jsh465]

Mine are so gorgeous they are really sour tho.

[@SchoolReports]

I've had batches like that! 😬If they are not _really_ sweet before freeze drying, the process really brings out the tartness in them.

[@kuroimushi9421]

​@@SchoolReports good to know 😮

[@pamelamerfeld7997]

I did a batch but some were a little soft in the end. Why ????

[@SchoolReports]

It depends on what you mean by "soft." Hopefully it's just because they were ripe. A lot of freeze dried foods are *not* hard, crunchy, or snap-able when finished, because they just don't have that kind of structure. That's why I do the _Dry Check_ process to make sure it's dry every time, because I can't count on "feels dry" to tell me anything. I try to explain this at about 19:43 The more ripe they are the less structure they have; very ripe pears, for example, are like pear flavored cotton candy!

[@pamelamerfeld7997]

@@SchoolReports oh cool. Thank you 😊

[@robingirven4570]

They probably were not completely dry. The first time I did berries, some went soft, quickly. All of mine are now crunchy. Using this weigh method. If you use his method you’ll be absolutely sure they’re dry.

[@egochecker]

I think the reason why your food is collapsing its because you're opening the drain valve to fast

[@SchoolReports]

I don't think that's it. The things that collapse do so many hours before the process is even complete, let alone the drain valve being opened. I don't think I've ever had anything, that was already complete, collapse when opening the drain. Nothing should be _that_ flexible by the time the freeze drying is complete.

[@egochecker]

The pressure difference that why you can seal mason jar. When the chamber is under a vacuum then you just open the drain valve the chance of pressure.

[@misterp158]

Good stuff, I noticed each batch you cut the strawberries different. what cut is your preference? across or vertical. thanks for sharing. Happy 4th.

[@SchoolReports]

Thanks so much for pointing that out and asking the question! I am _very_ ashamed to say that I hadn't noticed that! (In my defense, the batches were almost 2 week apart and I forgot how I'd done the first batch!) It wasn't on purpose or thought out, but that goes a long way to explain why a lot more of the pieces broke while handling the second batch. With that being said, for future batches I will plan on cutting them across the berries (like the first batch) rather than from stem to tip.

[@kuroimushi9421]

I like look of the stem-tip cut, they look like little hearts 😊, for snacking it doesn't matter but for selling (for decoration or for pastry) I believe it it's nicer 😊