Can you even freeze dry stuff without a freeze dryer? Sounds pretty impossible right? Well, what if I told you that it is not only possible but also quite simple. With just 6 simple steps, you can make your favourite freeze-dried candy or food in your very own house. What’s the magic ingredient for this DIY project: dry ice. Yep, the same dry ice that fogs immediately when you touch it is going to be the key. It will help cool and dehydrate your food at an accelerated pace, giving it that familiar freeze-dried texture you know and love.
So now that you’re convinced that freeze-drying candy and food can be done without a machine, here are the steps to get you there:
- Prepare the candy or food into small bite-size pieces
- Place into a freezer bag
- Freeze the candy or food in the freezer until completely frozen through
- Submerge the freezer bag into a cooler full of dry ice
- Wait 48 hours and then take the freezer bag out of the cooler
- Enjoy your delicious DIY freeze-dried candy and food!
Preparing the candy or food into bite size pieces makes the initial freezing process faster, and also makes your delicious creation easier to eat at the end. We put the pieces into a freezer bag so there is no chance it gets freezer burned, and everything is contained in one area. After taking the bag out of the freezer and putting it into the cooler, make sure that the dry ice is on all sides of the freezer bag, so everything in it can have the full freeze dried effect. Be careful not to close the cooler completely, as the compressed gas can cause an explosion! After waiting 48 hours the process should be done. Step six is pretty self-explanatory, pick your perfect bite and enjoy the new texture that you created!
So you may be thinking, if this process is so easy then why in the world are people spending thousands of dollars on actual freeze dryers? The thing is, this method just emulates freeze drying. There is no guarantee that you will retain the same nutritional value you will with freeze drying, or if your food will stay good for 25 years like properly freeze-dried foods do. This just gives you another option if you don’t want to commit to buying a hunk of machinery that’ll set you back a bit more than a pretty penny. Happy freeze-drying!