Okay, that is what we got this thing for. Meats run through the freeze dryer are OUTSTANDING! I had cooked up 6 pounds of ground beef and filled 2 trays, cut up chicken and beef roast on another tray. At 21 hours the meat was done but the pumpkin still needed more time.
While the machine was doing its thing I spent some time trying to organize out our tupperware shelves as I need to move them so the freeze dryer will have a place to live. Lots of things got tossed in the box that we rarely use and the stuff we use more often will be getting moved to a cabinet by the sink.
It was a little bit before 3:00pm when the meats finished the process and I pulled the 3 trays out and kept the dryer running the 2 trays of pumpkin.
The 2 trays of ground beef definitely showed there was a good bit of shrinkage in the beef. When I loaded the trays I had them flush with the top of the tray but after they dried it was only about half the height of the tray.
It all came out perfectly though and it is nice and dry and 1/3 the weight from start.
The chicken came out perfectly and the real treat is the roast strips. This is where I found the most amazing thing. I took a piece of the dried roast and tossed it in my mouth and let the saliva soak in. After only about 20 seconds the piece of roast has regained its same texture and flavor as if it was just room temp roast. The texture coming back so perfectly is what really amazes me.
Since I had 2 trays of ground beef I took one tray and put it into a mylar bag and sealed it up.
The one tray fit perfectly into the bag and I tossed in an oxygen absorber before sealing it.
I sealed the bag twice to make sure to get it air tight. I ended up with 14 ounces of ground beef in the mylar bag, from a starting weight of 3 pounds of raw meat.
The pumpkin still needed a bunch more time as it is a 30 hour process. It appears that meats are going to be on the shorter time frame.
I got a fire going in the fire pit for the evening and as it got darker and later the fog really set in. It was kind of eerie looking as I walked back from putting the chickens in.
Today I have the annual meeting for the co-op, we need to get broccoli florets going in the freezedryer and try to figure out the next thing we will be running through it.
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Fleming Family Farm
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Sustainable & Organic Methods | Heirloom Produce
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