We all love candy, right? And the thought of buying candy that will last us 25 years sounds like a magical dream – doesn’t it? What if we told you there is a way to make that dream a reality … with a freeze-dried candy machine! We’re sure that if you haven’t tried freeze-drying, you have at least heard of it. But have you ever stopped to wonder where the technique of freeze-drying came from? It’s one of those ‘shower thoughts’ like “I wonder if my cat thinks the delivery guy is my owner because he gives me food” or “nothing makes sense, pizzas are round, the boxes we put them in are square and we eat them as triangles” (Becker, 2015). What is the history of freeze-drying? Who was freeze-drying invented by? Lucky for you, there actually is a reasonable answer to this reasonless ‘shower thought’ – unlike many that we will never know the answer to … WHY … WHY IS THE BOX SQUARE WHEN THE PIZZA IS ROUND, WE NEED TO KNOW!
*Clears throat*
Anyways, long story short, the original idea of freeze-drying was invented by the Incas people in the early 15th century. The Incas people used freeze-drying techniques by leaving their potatoes outside in the freezing cold all night and placing a cloth overtop of it to dry the food – pretty brilliant if you ask us! They would also squeeze out any excess moisture the next day (Tour in Peru, 2021).
Another significant developer of the freeze-drying process was Jacques-Arsene d’Arsonval; he invented the freeze-dryer at a College in France in 1906. He utilized the raw techniques that were discovered by the Incas people and turned freeze-drying into a well-established process that was essential during World War II. During World War II, the freeze-dryer was used to preserve blood serum. And, in the 1950s, the freeze-dry machine was being used for other reasons like preserving food, pharmaceuticals and more (McHugh, 2018)!
Isn’t it crazy how we just accept the way the world works, barely questioning anything because it is our normal. Isn’t it crazy how we eat salt because one of our ancestors licked a rock and thought that it tasted good. Isn’t it … oh, these ‘shower thoughts’ are getting away from us now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. *Beep*.
And that’s your history lesson for the day, we hope you enjoyed it!
All in all, we can give credit to the Incas people for inventing the freeze-drying technique, but who knows maybe the history of freeze-drying goes back even further than the 1500’s!
Alright, we’re off to go use our freeze-dried candy machine to make some delicious skittles – all thanks to our ancestors!
We’d like to thank these sources that helped us with this blog
Becker, T. (2015). 22 #ShowerThoughts That Are Deeper Than Life’s Biggest Questions. Retrieved from https://socialmediaweek.org
McHugh, T. (2018). Freeze-Drying Fundamentals. Retrieved from https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications
Tour in Peru. (2021). A Few Inventions of The Incas. Retrieved from https://www.tourinperu.com