Freeze Drying vs. Dehydrating How are they Different?

Dehydrating herbs tends to give them a flavor of hay, due to an enzyme called chlorophyllase. To circumvent that, you can heat the herbs for 5 seconds at a temperature of 40°C / 104°F to break down that enzyme, and you will preserve the natural flavor better. Blanching is a good way of doing this. A secondary benefit of blanching or freezing, is that it breaks the cell structure, and allows water to leave the cells much more readily. This gives you a faster dehydration. I am unfamiliar with freeze-drying, so I'll leave that to the experts above!

When I first saw the smoothie circles, I thought, "what is she doing with bologna?" What a great idea for smoothies!

The difference between dehydrating and freeze drying is $2000.00 plus! Which is why I'll probably never own a freeze dryer!

I loved my freeze dryer. Unfortunately it only worked for 2 months and after a month of doing a lot of “testing” as per the Harvest Right techs, I had to send it back for repair. It’s been gone since February 19. Harvest Right will pay for the shipping to have it repaired BUT ONLY IF YOU LIVE IN THE USA. I live in Canada so it’s cost me a fortune to send it back for repair and will cost me a fortune for it to be returned. I’m hopeful that whenever I get it back, that I’ll have many years of trouble free use. If it breaks again, I don’t think I’ll send it back. It’s just too expensive. I wished I had done more research prior to buying it. I’m not sure that would have made the purchase knowing what I now know. Honestly, until Harvest Right gets all the bugs worked out, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone outside the USA.

I make my own real pumpkin pie spice powder for flavoring my coffee in a dehydrator. I actually use the pie filling mix I use to make pumpkin pie and then pour that onto a wax paper sheet and dehydrate it. It takes a long time to fully dehydrate it though. I make it so it snaps and breaks. If it bends at all, I keep dehydrating it. Then I blend it up into a powder and it lasts a long time and adds a lot of flavor to coffee. I bet freeze drying it would be sweet too.

This has to be one of the BEST vids I have seen for a very very long time. 😍

Wow you are an awesome presenter!! What a fabulous video! 10/10! Thank you for sharing!

We Love our Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. We freeze dry almost every day. During the summer we freeze dry everything that we harvest from our large garden and our small orchard. During the winter we freeze dry meat. We barter some of our fruits and vegetables for meat that is hormone free from my wife’s 17K acre ranch in Montana. We live in north central Washington state where we can grow many varieties of vegetables and fruits. When freeze drying our greens, I always cook them first and then simply add water and reheat. They taste garden fresh. We have to buy Kiwi peel and slice before freeze drying. We HIGHLY recommend Harvest Right Freeze Dryer for preserving food.

Thanks for making this video. I've never fully understood the difference. Your explanation makes it clear.

I grew up hiking with Mountain House freeze dried meals when they were newish and not exactly impressive. As a young adult I came across (the only time I saw this) a freeze-dried rib eye steak in a pouch from MH on a fireline. Add water to reconstitute, toss in the ashes and embers, and voila! I tell you this from 40 yrs. distance, that was one of the best steaks I can remember. Of course, exhaustion and privation prime the taste buds, but our usual fare was C-rations from the Korean war, so comparison helped too. I enjoyed the lesson, and I'm glad home freeze drying is now possible! 😄

Y’all are great always a smile on your face. Beautiful family keep it up

I bought the HR freeze drier going on 3 years now. Been running almost full time non stop ever since.

Thank you for the time and energy you put into the infomative video! I love your calm clear way of educating ❤

You do a great job!! You answered so many of my questions that I have had. Thank you!!

Great job, Carolyn! Thank you for doing this! 😀

Great examples illustrating the differences between the two appliances. Thank you!

This is a great video. I have both. I am freeze drying a lot of foods for long term, but I need to use them more to know how to hydrate. I love my freeze dryer. I have milk, eggs, cooked gr. beef, ice cream... all freeze dryed. I have jerky dehydrated. I do herbs too all summer long in the dehydrator. Thank you for the video and I look forward to more freeze dryer videos. I am also watching all the canning videos I can. I am learning that skill too. Thank you again!

Thank you so much! I really didn’t know the difference and you explained it so well.

Thank you for clarifying so much confusion on what a freeze dryer does. I really have found this video so informative!

Carolyn I greatly appreciate your time and effort you put into these comparisons it really helps when you’re trying to make wise decisions about the different products and which way you want to go either short term or long term. Both are expensive so it really helps thank you for your knowledge and sharing it with us. Sincerely a true follower and fellow healthy person.