I freeze dried grapes because I was curious, lol
I love grapes, and so do our chickens, so I decided to try freeze drying some:)
This time, I just wanted to keep emptying out my freezer. I had sliced apples, some random bags of blueberries, and some grapes I had vacuum sealed and frozen. I’m sure curious what the freeze dried grapes will be like. I hope they don’t explode in the machine or something – really don’t want to have to do a huge cleanup afterwards.
The apples, blueberries, and grapes were all pre-frozen before I put them into the Ice Queen (a Harvest Right Home Pro Medium freeze dryer).
![blueberries-grapes-apples-before-freeze-drying blueberries, grapes, and apples before freeze drying](https://buckhillsfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/blueberries-grapes-apples-before-freeze-drying-234x300.jpg)
Welp, the grapes didn’t work, lol
The apples and blueberries came out wonderfully, like they did the first time I tried to freeze dry them. The grapes, however, are not good. The sugar bubbled out a bit, they didn’t actually dry all the way, and they’re just a super sticky mess, hahaha! Perhaps if I had cut them in half, they would have done better. I will try that next time I do them and see. Live and learn, right?
I put the freeze dried apples and blueberries into mason jars with oxygen absorbers, sealed them with a jar vacuum sealer (I actually now have two of these, lol: Electric Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer), and put them on our shelf:)
Freeze drying timeframe:
The Ice Queen ran for 19 hours and 45 minutes. And like I already said.. apples and blueberries were great, grapes were garbage, ha!
Did the 2 hour defrost after this run:)
Happy freeze drying!!
Welp, cutting in half probably would have worked out better.. the freeze dried grapes came out a gnarly, sticky mess lol. I rinsed them really well and gave them to the chickens with their breakfast though, so not wasted. Live and learn, right?
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— Buck Hills Farm (@buck_hills_farm) January 18, 2024