The Only Beginner Freeze Drying Book You'll Ever Need: Learn the Simple Process to Create Food Storage for Your Survival Pantry and Discover Easy Recipes Your Family Will Love

I have been interested in freeze drying ingredients for specialty desserts but was daunted by the labyrinthine searches I made all over the Internet looking for advice. After a lot of research I wasn’t even sure I wanted to move forward, especially since I already have years of experience in basic dehydration, but a friend recommended this book and it is a godsend! Everything I could want to know is here, written in a fun, easy-to-understand way, plus I learned so much! At first, it seems to be written more for homesteaders and people who want to live off the grid (I live downtown in a big city in a restored historic home, so that’s not my goal at all), but it turns out that the book is written for EVERYONE who is interested in freeze drying. And even though I started out thinking I’d use it to take my desserts (for gourmet chocolates and sweets for the Japanese tea ceremony), I’m inspired now to use it for many other things. The book is full of fascinating information, from the history of freeze drying to how to use it to lower food waste and your carbon footprint. Also, my mind is completely blown by the fact that I can freeze-dry certain foods and expect them to remain fresh and nutritious for decades. DECADES!! Again…mind blown. So, I got this book to see if it was a fit for me for very specific needs and ended up being totally inspired to expand my whole way of thinking about it. I’m still excited to start using it for amazing chocolates and tea sweets, but now I’m also excited to experiment with preserving stuff I get from the local CSA, my garden, and bulk sales. And the idea of freeze-drying cultures for things like sourdough starters has me sooooo excited! Who knew? And travel will never be the same again! This book is so much more than a how-to guide. It will inspire you to really broaden your horizons in so many ways.

If starting out with freeze drying this book helps you understand what and why things to be done. Well written, and clearly states the needed procedures for SAFELY using a Freeze Drier and how to do the freeze dryer processings

I bout this for my adult son for his birthday. He purchased a commercial size Freeze Dryer and has been experimenting with it for a few months, so not a beginner. He's discovered some really great recipe, but also has had a few Big flops, that cost him a lot of cleaning time and money he invested into the ingredients. This book is Great because, it takes a lot of the guessing out of the game. It tells what products freeze well, which don't, how to guides and some really Awesome looking recipes. All included in this beautifully color printed book! I've never spent this much on a book before, but now I see it was worth every penny! My 36 year old son was Delighted when he opened this gift for his birthday! I highly recommend this to anyone who would like to learn how to freeze dry goods and avoid some Hugh Headaches along the way!

I've enjoyed using this book; it is replete with good information for the beginner. I'm using a Blue Alpine freeze dryer, not a Harvest Right, which is what the authors are using as their reference point, but it's easy enough to apply their instructions and get similar results. They talk about the weight of the trays, which I guess must be a setting for the Harvest Right, but that's not something I've taken into consideration and it hasn't seemed to matter. Maybe I missed it, but I couldn't see anywhere what size freeze dryer the recipe quantities are for. But I found that if I halved the ingredient amounts, that seemed to work pretty well for the size of my trays in the medium freeze dryer. The recipes are great; I've only used a few but want to try more. The only quibble so far is the recipe for the Pumpkin Pie Drops. It calls for maple syrup, which I found caused the mixture to separate before I could pipe all the drops onto the tray. I'm thinking next time I'll use maple sugar instead. That might also help to reduce the drying time slightly. But overall, I appreciate how detailed the book is, and would recommend it to anyone who's a newbie to freeze drying.

I recently bought a 2023 Harvest Right Medium Pro freeze dryer. I ordered this book to jump start my process and get right into freeze drying and preserving foods. I LOVE how well thought-out and simply written it is! There is a lot of useful information that you can quickly absorb and still get right into processing foods. The quick reference guide for all the different types of food is fantastic! It's saving me from potentially wasting a lot of time and money experimenting and learning all of this by trial and error. I have found that my machine finishes batches in less time than some of the ones listed in hte book (probably because it's newer?), but I still love the ability to reference the cataloged knowledge because it helps me plan which foods to run through together based on similar processing times. This is a must have for anyone new to the freeze drying world!

I've read other freeze drying books on the market, BUT they all lacked thoroughness. I always finished the pages wanting more information. This book, however, will take you from the very beginning: educating you about the different sized machines and tray capacities, which ultimately informs your decision about what size machine you should get; walking you through the set-up; getting that first load going; and encouraging you to think about prepping the next foods for the freezer. It really holds your hand and offers so much wisdom that once could only be found after hours and hours spent reading posts in some of the freeze dry groups on Facebook. Now you can save time and everything you need is right here in the pages of the book. There are how-to's for individual foods as well as 40 recipes. I wish there were many more recipes but it's a good start. Almost any receipt can be adapted to freeze dry as long as it doesn't have much fat or chocolate. The book offers much more -- just look at the table of contents and you'll be sold. I've been freeze drying for 8 months and truly wish I had this book before I even bought one. It's THAT valuable.

Great book for beginners. Guided me through toast test to fruit, vegetables, meals, etc. Has very detailed info on logging and maintenance. This is my go to book. Includes recipes.

I love this book! Its so helpful to have a guide to know not only how to freeze dry a food but how to rehydrate it. I was constantly looking at You tube videos and then I didn't know if I was doing it right. I especially love the recipes at the back. Ive never found a recipe that I could easily make up into a cheese ball. The recipes are easy and they don't require ingredients that you may have never heard of. I especially love the egg casserole and the tuna sandwiches. They require a little extra of the ingredients but I have found that I have enough to share and besides enough to eat. I bought 4 of these for my kids and two for my neighbors. I really love this book!