Foods to Avoid Freeze Drying

Entering into the world of freeze-drying, it seems like the possibilities are almost endless. And in a way, they are! There are quite literally hundreds of foods and candies you can freeze-dry. But, there are still a few things you should avoid. 

Here at That Sweet Lyfe, we’ve done the hard part for you. We’ve tested snack after snack to discover exactly what works and what doesn’t. So, in this blog, we’ll summarize! Want to know what foods you should avoid freeze-drying? Keep reading to find out! 

First, you’re going to want to avoid foods that are really high in oil. Peanut butter in the freeze-dryer? Save yourself the trouble and skip that one. Oh, and that salted butter you just can’t get enough of? You should skip that one too (even though freeze-dried butter sounds delicious). 

The issue with foods like peanut butter and butter is that while freeze-drying removes water from food, it doesn’t remove oil. Since foods like peanut butter and butter have a high oil content, with very little water, the freeze-drying process isn’t really effective. 

On that same note, you’ll want to avoid pure chocolate too. Frustrating, we know. But it’s the same issue as the peanut butter and butter. Pure chocolate has a high oil content and little water content, so it’s not the ideal candidate for freeze-drying. 

If you’ve been following along on our blog, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. Here at That Sweet Lyfe, we took it upon ourselves to conduct all sorts of crazy experiments to figure out exactly which foods freeze-dry well, and which don’t work.  

Chocolate has always been one of the tricky ones. Some of our chocolate experiments were super successful, and others were simply a fail. But throughout our experiments, we’ve noticed the pattern. Chocolate candies that contain other ingredients do really well in the freeze-dryer. For example, our Milk Duds experiment and our Riesen Chocolate Caramels experiment were hugely successful. Like, mouth-wateringly successful. But other experiments with more pure chocolate, like our Lindt Chocolate experiment, didn’t turn out quite as well. What it comes down to is the ingredients. Pure chocolate is simply too high in oil to freeze-dry well. So, if you’re looking for your next freeze-dried chocolatey snack, be sure to opt for chocolates with other ingredients in them to make sure your freeze-drying adventure is a success.

Now, these are the general rules for what to avoid when freeze-drying, but sometimes, it does take some experimenting. Some foods we thought would freeze-dry well didn’t, and some we thought wouldn’t, did! If you want to begin your own freeze-drying adventure, we recommend you avoid oil-based foods and pure chocolate, but ultimately, don’t be afraid of getting your hands dirty and trying out different foods to see what works and what doesn’t.