I scooped out a bit of the meat and a scoop of the fat and put it on a griddle. Spreading it out, I made sure to give it a minute to crisp up.
I had some of this egg and so did my daughter. I should just tell the truth and say what really happened. I offered my daughter a bite, then I took one and then she walked off with the plate.
There are so many different ways to do things. I don’t believe in the One Way Mentality. I just don’t. I like rebel canning, Amish canning, I like freeze drying, and I like dehydrating. I like all the ways and I’m open to anything.
I’ve had a lot of people tell me there’s no way you can keep candy good “into the end”. I’ve been told that sugary things are not good to store because the sugar content sucks up the water in the air and gets sticky and tends to get “juicy”.
The reason it does that is because the molecular structure of a carbohydrate (also known as a sugar) attaches to the hydrogen-oxygen bonds in the air. This makes them “moist” (yep, I put that word in there… sorry!).
When they attach to water molecules, that’s when they go bad. No one wants to eat a damp Skittle when you’re faced with other depressing things. We all just want a tasty treat to help us snap out of the hardships that are supposed to come with the “end of the world”.
Some people have decided they can’t take candy with them. They have decided that they must “survive” on wheat and powdered milk alone. Just thinking about it makes me NOT want to survive.
For everyone who thinks you can’t prepare treats for “the end”, I beg to differ. True, there are some candies that respond better than others to food preservation. This is frustrating to say the least. I mean, I tried freeze drying Dots, the gummy candies, and they did NOTHING, except get softer because of the heat. It was so uninspiring that I just let my kids eat them. They didn’t even notice a difference.
But not all candies are created equal. Some did surprisingly well! Freeze dried candy is definitely a great reason to try out a freeze dryer.
Since I got my trusty FD’er, I’ve tried a few things. You get to benefit from my experimentation. I’ll continue adding candy here as I try it. So check back often!
I’ve tried various sizes because my kids don’t like them and they always get a TON when they trick-or-treat. They add them to my freeze drying pile and let me experiment with just about anything.
I separated them on the tray because as you’ll see later in this post, salt water taffy blew up, taking more space than they originally did. I didn’t want to have Tootsie Rolls stuck to each other. So I gave them plenty of space. Same as the Dots.
As you can see here, the Tootsie Rolls after being freeze dried are more like a wafer in a matte brown color. They’re extremely light and when you bite into them, they’re like biting the inside of a Whopper – almost like a malt ball, but not.
The Dots were unimpressive. There was no change. They underwent the full 16 hours with the Tootsie Rolls and they didn’t hold onto their temperature even though they hadn’t changed. Usually if something isn’t finished freeze drying, they maintain the chill of the frozen water. These Dots did not have any temperature change.
You can pull them and twist them. They come in a bunch of different flavors and colors. My kids don’t adore them like I do, but that’s only because I haven’t had a chance to take them to the salt water taffy store in Seaside, Oregon. When I do, they’ll fall in love with them in their natural state.
These suckers are on parchment paper. I didn’t account for expansion and that was a surprise when I opened the machine after 15 hours to find them ballooned up.
When you bite into them they’re hard but then dissolve in your mouth like cotton candy but also kind of stringy. The flavors and color are still intact. There are little pockets of air inside, too, extremely small.
They were eccentric to eat and try, but we probably won’t do them again, either. Why? Because I like my salt water taffy stretchy and moldable. If I wanted to eat hard cotton candy, I’d consider the Tootsie Rolls above – they at least pretend to be chocolate.
When my son tried them he claimed they hurt his throat as he was trying them. Not always a good thing! But the flavor was enhanced. So there’s that.
Freeze Dry CheesecakeTheir insides split the sweet candy shell. Definitely made them interesting. If you’re looking to try some without freeze drying them, you can check out this place that ships a fun package of them to your place. Freeze Dried Skittles.
Something I’m highly addicted to but can’t seem to keep from going bad in the bag (I get bags and bags when they go on sale and we don’t eat them nearly fast enough) are marshmallows.
I seriously can’t get enough. When my daughter and I went off sugar, these were the hardest things to continue having in the house. I figure if something happens, I won’t care what size jeans I’m in. You know, I’ll want a bag of these puffy pieces of heaven for comfort food. To be clear, I’m good with that.
Before: you can see these ones are fresh. They don’t stick to each other and they’re plump and fluffy. I want to eat one right now!
Then they went through the freeze dryer. I was a little skeptical. I’d heard that they actually turn out really good, but I love a good soft marshmallow.
When they came out slightly wrinkly, I doubted everything I’d heard. But when I tried one, they reminded me of the Lucky Charm marshmallows! Crunchy but flavorful without the artificial crazy flavors. Just the terrifically subtle marshmallow flavor. These marshmallows are like the ones that you find in the hot cocoa mixes with added mini marshmallows but bigger!
They’re a little wrinkly, but they don’t stick to each other and they won’t. Whew! I have to admit they’re perfect and I can’t wait to try them later!
The Great Value Brand marshmallows at Walmart was NOT good. They were chewy even though they were done. It was weird. But the generic brand at WinCo was awesome. Perfect and delicious. That’s what the ones pictured below are. And Winco has some great prices on their marshmallows most of the time – especially as it gets close to holidays.
Many people think it’s next to impossible to do the freeze drying for themselves. This is far from factual. Freeze drying at home is made easy by Harvest Right. They sell three different sizes of freeze-drying machines that do everything in the machine – except prep and package.
For all intents and purposes, here at Freeze Drying Mama we use the medium sized freeze dryer. You can check out the sizes offered at Harvest Right here.
What this machine does is first freeze the items on stainless steel trays to -41 degrees or lower. This takes about 10 hours or so.
Then a vacuum pump turns on and creates a vacuum inside the drum. This is the drying stage and will vacillate the heat of the tray up and down to a pretty warm temperature. This makes the frozen items release any water in them in vapor form. The vacuum sucks the moisture to the drum and this collects in ice form on the inner circle of the drum.
I love freeze dried cheese sticks. One of my favorite snacks that comes out of the freeze dryer are these cheese stick puff balls. That’s my official name for them. Hahaha. Because the short answer to the question above is yes, you can definitely freeze dry cheese sticks. So much yes, that I buy bags and bags of all kinds of cheese sticks to freeze dry for both long term and short term food needs.
If you don’t know this already, cheese is a friendly food for more people who are health conscious. Especially the lighter on the fat options and those seeking more protein in their diet. Cheese is also phenomenal for flavor and has a wide range of uses that keep our dishes varied and out of the mundane department.
If you have cheese sticks in your food storage, you’re setting yourself up for success should things get rough in a “SHTF” type of way.
Not to mention, they’re a filling and nutritious mainstay for most people with health conditions who need to follow specific eating restrictions – keto, diabetic, low carb, high protein, etc. Definitely not the same as cheesecake!