Freeze dried foods have become so popular that you might have seen them at your grocery store. This type of food preservation is steadily gaining popularity because you do not have to add any preservatives yet you can safely store food for many years without damaging its nutritional structure or taste. In fact, most freeze dried foods can be completely revitalized by putting a little hot water in. You will be surprised that the taste and texture remain pretty much the same as prior to freeze drying.

Freeze Dried Bananas are produced in a process where moisture is removed from the product using a very low temperature and a vacuum. Only about 2 percent moisture remains in the product at the time of packaging. The end product weight is reduced by over 70 percent, while the volume stays the same. This remarkable process concentrates the fresh taste, natural color, and texture of bananas.

When rehydrated, the product will absorb the liquid and resemble fresh bananas once again. The taste is great, and the nutritional value is preserved. Freeze drying provides natural and additive free fruits to be stored effectively for long periods of time. Freeze Dried Bananas are an ideal product for long term food storage and emergency preparedness.

For Freeze-Dried products, moisture is removed through a process called sublimation. The food is put in a chamber that flash freezes it. Then the chamber is heated slightly and then re-frozen again. During these reheating and freezing stages, a vacuum is sucking out the moistures in the form of gas. The water content never actually becomes a liquid.

The closest example would be of dry ice. It goes from a solid to a gas with sublimation. Now this sounds very scientific, and it is! But what actually makes it different than dehydrated? Due to the fact that the food is frozen before the water is removed, the shape, color, texture, and flavor changes very little, or not at all.

Imagine the banana slices found in trail mix. They are crunchy, dense, intensely flavored, and most likely brown. With a Freeze-Dried Banana slice, they will be airy when you bite into it dry. Almost like a marshmallow you would find in cereal. The flavor is not overpowering. It’s sweet and flavorful. And the color is white! Just as if you peeled the banana right before you eat it. An added bonus to the Freeze-Dried Banana? You can rehydrate it and use it in your recipes! You can make banana bread, or put them in your cereal or oatmeal, you can even throw them into your smoothies, because they will go smooth and soft, just like a fresh banana.

Since Freeze-Dried products have been through less of a process, they hold a higher nutrition level. As your food is heated during the dehydration process it slightly cooks your food, which means it loses some of its nutrition. Just as frozen fruits and vegetables are healthier than their canned counterparts, so does Freeze-Dried hold more nutrition than the dehydrated foods.

You may be wondering how the storage will compare to traditionally dehydrated products, and the answer is much longer! While dehydrated products have less than 5% moisture levels, Freeze-Dried have less than 2% moisture levels. With less moisture, and the proper packaging and storage, your Freeze-Dried food storage will last for 25+ years for taste, texture, flavor, AND nutrition! With such great benefits from Freeze-Drying, it’s easy to see why so manypreppers have it in theirlong term foodstorage.