Devonviolet Acres

[SageHill]

Yes, it is an amazing technology. I have a harvest right freeze dryer, that I bought two years ago. They used to be the only company that made homestyle, freeze dryers. But lately I have seen another company advertising freeze dryers for the home.

The basic process is, the machine first, freezes the food at an extremely low temperature, under a vacuum, created by a powerful pump, for several hours. It then switches to an extended dry cycle, which hyper dries the food. Once it is finished, you vacuum, seal the food, either in mylar bags or canning jars. When you are ready to use the food, you rehydrated. One of my favorite things to freeze dry is eggs. I crack Eggs into my KitchenAid mixing bowl and mix the eggs up well. I pour 3 to 4 dozen eggs into one of the freeze dryer trays (which are 9x19x1/2”) and freeze until they are solid. I can transfer them to the freeze dryer and set the cycle to run. It can take as much is 35-40 hours for them to dry completely. When they are finished, I put them in my food processor and grind them to a powder and then store them in half gallon canning jars, which I see you with a food saver attachment. To eat the eggs, you put 2 tablespoons of powder, per egg, in a bowl, with 2 tablespoons of water, per egg, stir them and let them sit for about 10 minutes. When you cook them, they taste just like fresh scrambled eggs! They come in really handy in the winter when the chickens stop laying eggs.

Harvest Right Home Freeze Dryers - The best way to preserve food

Freeze drying at home with a Harvest Right freeze dryer is the best way to preserve food for your family.

harvestright.com

Oh wow you’ve got one of those! I keep looking at them and wishing for one to land here!

 

[Devonviolet]

Oh wow you’ve got one of those! I keep looking at them and wishing for one to land here!

Yes, I feel blessed to have one! When I first learned about them four or five years ago, I figured I would never be able to afford one, because they were several thousand dollars. Then, in March of 2020, my dear sister (who lived in San Jose, CA) died and I was the executor of her estate.

In October of that year, I flew to California to clean out her storage unit, and drove her truck to Texas. It was a 2001 Ford F-150, in fairly good condition. People told me I wouldn’t get anything for it, but I managed to get $5100! And the man who bought it didn’t even negotiate the price. He was thrilled to get the truck. So, I used that money to buy a large freeze drier. Actually, they have come down in price a bit. I had to order it and wait several weeks for it to be delivered in a big box truck. Last Spring, I saw that they are now selling them at Tractor Supply and Home Depot. But I’m not complaining. I’m thrilled with it!.

 

[Devonviolet]

I ended up having to enlist the help of my husband to get the elderberries off the stems yesterday afternoon. I have familial essential tremors, that makes it very difficult for me to do a lot of things with my hands, because they shake so badly. I was having a heck of a time getting the berries off the stems.

The elderberries were in two feed sacks. We guesstimate that by the time we combined those feed sacks, we had a full 50 pound feed sack of elderberries. DH spent over an hour, stripping berries off after rinsing them. I then dumped them into my water bath canning pot and just covered them with water. They ended up being about an inch and a quarter below the top edge.

I then put a lid on the pot, turned the burner on the stove to low, and left it there for several hours while it simmered. Occasionally I checked it and gave it to stir with one of my big commercial kitchen spoons (from my goat milk days). By 11 o’clock last night I could tell that the juice had cooked out of the berries, and they were finally done, but I didn’t have any place to put them to cool down. So I just left them on the stove covered. I figured they had been simmering at just under a boil for hours, so there couldn’t be any bacteria in the juice and it should be safe until morning.

This morning they were actually still just a little bit warm. I got my 16 cup Cuisinart out and put the small plastic blade, which I think is a dough blade, and got my big commercial ladle out. About four of those ladles filled the Cuisinart about 3/4 full. I turned it on for about two minutes, and the pulp was separated from the seeds and skin.

DH held a nylon milk strainer bag over one of my 2-1/2 gallon stainless steel buckets while I poured the sludge from the Cuisinart into the bag. I then began ringing all the liquid out, and ended up with about a cup of dry pulp. Rinse and repeat about 15 times. By the time I was finished, I had two buckets about 3/4 full. So I figure I got 4 1/2 or 5 GALLONS of juice out of all those elderberries. NOT BAD! I then poured the juice through the straining bag, one more time and put it on the stove, bringing it up to 185°F, to make sure I killed off any bacteria. It is now sitting on the stove cooling off, so I can pour it into freeze dryer trays and freeze it solid, before I put it in the freeze dryer. Ask me how I know it makes a mess if you try to pour liquid into the trays while they are in the freeze dryer.

I have been making elderberry syrup and elderberry juice for seven or eight years now, and I learned something new today! After I got the juice reheating on the stove, and was cleaning my equipment, I found what appeared to be brown grease smeared in my sink. I tried scrubbing it with dish soap, and it just smeared around and made a mess. I ended up having to get my CitruSolve orange cleaner out and scrubbing it with that. I also had it on my hands and utensils. At first, I couldn’t figure out where this grease came from. But then I realized it had to have come from the elderberries. The nylon bag that I used to strain the juice from the berries, was covered with it. WHAT A MESS to clean up! So it appears that elderberries have some sort of resin in them. Two well-known resins, that I use a lot for healing lotions, are frankincense and myrrh resins. Maybe that accounts for some of the exceptional healing powers of elderberries! That just proves you are never too old to learn something new!

 

[SageHill]

Yes, I feel blessed to have one! When I first learned about them four or five years ago, I figured I would never be able to afford one, because they were several thousand dollars. Then, in March of 2020, my dear sister (who lived in San Jose, CA) died and I was the executor of her estate.

In October of that year, I flew to California to clean out her storage unit, and drove her truck to Texas. It was a 2001 Ford F-150, in fairly good condition. People told me I wouldn’t get anything for it, but I managed to get $5100! And the man who bought it didn’t even negotiate the price. He was thrilled to get the truck. So, I used that money to buy a large freeze drier. Actually, they have come down in price a bit. I had to order it and wait several weeks for it to be delivered in a big box truck. Last Spring, I saw that they are now selling them at Tractor Supply and Home Depot. But I’m not complaining. I’m thrilled with it!.

Yeah - I saw them years ago online (before all H*LL broke loose) and thought -- ohhhhh I'd really like one of those. Saw them in TSC last year and pointed it out to DH who looked and then about fainted at the price. So cool you've got one and to know that they work!! LOL it's further down my list of wanna/gotta haves now. Topping that list is a remote brush hogger -- many of our slopes are too steep for the tractor.

 

[Devonviolet]

Yeah - I saw them years ago online (before all H*LL broke loose) and thought -- ohhhhh I'd really like one of those. Saw them in TSC last year and pointed it out to DH who looked and then about fainted at the price. So cool you've got one and to know that they work!! LOL it's further down my list of wanna/gotta haves now. Topping that list is a remote brush hogger -- many of our slopes are too steep for the tractor.

Yes, it’s amazing how we farm girls prioritize our wanna/gotta have list. City folks just don’t understand how wonderful it is to have a brush hog!

 

[Baymule]

Pictures of your elderberry process?

 

[Devonviolet]

Pictures of your elderberry process?

Sorry I was so focused on what I was doing I forgot to take photos until the end when the juice was in the pot.

 

[Baymule]

I looked up freeze dryers. They come in several sizes, price reflects that.

I found this little one, different brand. Seems so small to not be worth the effort.

 

[SageHill]

I looked up freeze dryers. They come in several sizes, price reflects that.

I found this little one, different brand. Seems so small to not be worth the effort.

View attachment 100419

OOOhhhh @Baymule you are one dangerous friend
EDIT --- not at my TSC -- they just have the $$$ ones. But I can look around for that other one
EDIT #2 ---- TSC may say that's a freeze dryer - but it's ...... a compact clothes dryer.
(spending averted)

 

[Mini Horses]

Well I HAD TO go look that up. all I found at TSC were $2895 and up. They do amazing things but, I'd not use it enough to make it worth my $$$. I'm sure it's great for some, just not me.