Can You Freeze Dry Nuts?

Nuts, life’s little protein-packed bombs, never seem to air out. Finally, a way to keep them fresh! Now whether you want to boil a carrot, freeze dry nuts, or make cookies edible, there’s a whole lotta science happening right there in the kitchen.

What is Freeze Drying?

Before we move on to nut-freeze-drying, what is freeze drying anyway? Freeze drying refers to a type of preservation that removes water from food by sublimation. During the process, the food is first frozen, followed by a reduction in the surrounding pressure and an addition of heat (which facilitates the removal of water from the food). When freeze-drying something, the frozen water is left to go directly from solid to gas without first becoming liquid – this process is known as sublimation.

Process of Freeze Drying

The principle of freeze-drying is a three-step process, including pre-freezing, primary drying, and secondary drying. In order to prepare for the freeze-dehydration process, the food will be frozen to its lowest temperature first. In the process of primary drying, about 95 per cent of the water is removed from the material via sublimation. And residual water is extracted through secondary drying.

Benefits of Freeze Drying

Freeze drying have many advantages. The freeze drying technology keeps the nutritional content, the sujure and the flavour of the foods, and the sujure which reduce the quality of the foods are not happened.

Can You Freeze Dry Anything?

While it’s a versatile preservation method that’s reasonably affordable, it’s not ideal for all foods: foods with high water content freeze dry well, but foods high in sugar or fat may not.

Limitations of Freeze Drying

Some foods don’t dry well (e.g., foods with lots of fat, though fat itself freezes dry nicely, grains and legumes, and thick-skinned or hard fruits like mangoes, dates, delicata squash). Foods with a high fat content don’t freeze dry well. When the volatile solvent is removed, the fat begins to melt and oozes all over the dish and belt. Foods with lots of sugar also don’t work – they create candy or a thick syrupy concoction. Grains and legumes generally don’t do well. If done correctly, the phosphorous will cause the grain to pop or explode, whisking out sugars and fats. This isn’t good. And thin-skinned/squishy fruits (e.g., bananas, tomatoes, figs, persimmons) turn to a black puddle rather than a chewy fruit cake when dried.

Freeze Drying vs Traditional Freezing

Standard freezing preserves food but can cause the formation of ice crystals that split apart the structure of food and render it mushy. Freeze-drying prevents this, preserving structure.

Can You Freeze Dry Peanuts?

In fact, yes, you can dry-ice-freeze dry (aka: use a freezer) peanuts. The result is crisp, crunchy and tasty, and retains most of its nutritional value.

Steps to Freeze Dry Peanuts

In the meantime, peanuts are pre-frozen, placed in the freeze dryer, and frozen again while the machine works. Once the cycle is finished, peanuts are ready for storage, for decades.

Foods That Can Be Freeze Dried

While foods such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meats, fish, eggs, desserts, full meals, candy and even pet food can be freeze dried, the common approach is in extracting juices from soft foods.

Can You Freeze Dry Butter?

Given the high fat content of butter, this might be a little tricky.

Process of Freeze Drying Butter

At Instrumart, freeze drying butter is a matter of pre-freezing the butter first, then applying a vacuum and heat to aid the sublimation process. Once done, it is an ultra-light, non-perishable product which is easily rehydrated.

Can You Freeze Dry Peanut Butter?

Peanut butter is also high in oil so technically it is also difficult to freeze-dry. But impossible?

Is Freeze Drying Peanut Butter Possible?

You can’t do better than that, or else freeze dry peanut butter. The outcome is a light, long-lasting food that can be reconstituted with water when ready to be eaten.

Things You Can Freeze Dry

And it’s not just nuts and fruits that are amenable to the process of freeze drying. You’d be amazed at what you can freeze-dry.

Unusual Foods You Can Freeze Dry

Beyond the usual suspects such as beef jerky, you can process ice-cream, hot pasta and cheese in a freeze drier. They all come out as light, stable, shelf-stable, portable snack versions of the original.

Conclusion

Therefore, do freeze dry nuts? Yes. Do freeze dry a lot of other foods? Yes, though not all foods are conducive to freeze drying. The main restriction in what you can freeze dry comes to foods with high fat and sugar content. Even so, the sky’s the limit for what you can dry. Freeze drying can work with everything from fruits to full meals.