September 3, 2025
Day 1,433 of the Adventure
Yesterday we announced our first attempt at freeze drying a big batch of chili. It seems everyone that's tried it has had success. We've just never got to the point where we were ready to try any kind of soup with meat in it. We ran a big batch that I would estimate was about four gallons worth. What you see in the picture was only about two cups after it was removed from the freeze dryer. Enough to fill a nice sized bowl. In the form you see it, it was dry, crunchy and very light weight. Virtually all of the moisture had been removed. In this state, it will store, sealed in mylar bags for 20-25 years (so they say) Plus, they also say it will not loose it's nutritional value. Not that chili has that much to begin with, but with the meat and vegetables. I suppose there's protein and........... Well, other stuff! At any rate, today was the reconstitution, texture and flavor test. It began as two cups of actual chili before freeze drying. There was roughly still two cups of dried chili that only weighed a couple ounces. I added two cups of water back to it and within seconds, the hamburger (venison burger) had reconstituted back to it's original texture. I simmered it over the fire for probably ten minutes. Two cups of water was probably just a little too much but it simmered away some of it and soon had the same consistency as the original batch. I tried it plain, adding nothing to it. It had the same taste, consistency and texture with the exception of the onions. They did not have quite the same body as they did prior to freeze drying. It all still tasted very good and I believe if you did not know it was reconstituted from a freeze dried form, you would never have guessed that it wasn't a fresh batch. I would call it a success and now we have one more category of preserved food for the pantry.
Adventure Quote: “When you do the things in the present that you can see, you are shaping the future that you are yet to see.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
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