Freeze Dried Pico

I haven’t tried rehydrating yet but the freeze drying turned out exactly as I had hoped. It’s yummy to munch on and I’m sure adding a little water will be the perfect pico.

Pico

From a big bowl of pico, I ended up with 2 pints and 12 half pints. The half pints will be perfect for us. I use it often with beans, tacos, enchiladas, and then any extra goes on my eggs the next morning.

There was an empty try so I whipped up 18 eggs and after freeze drying, they filled two pint jars.

Here’s a shot of the storage unit in one of the sewing room closets.

Storage Area

You can see the ice build up on the walls of the freeze dryer.

Ice on Inside

All the water that’s pulled from the food is frozen against the walls. Once the food is done and out, I can either let the freeze dryer defrost itself or hit the defrost button and the insides heat up and melt the water. That takes about two hours and it can take up to 4 hours for it to defrost on its own. I think only once have I had it heat up to defrost. The rest of the time, I just let it defrost on its own. There’s a tube in the back and the water drains into a bucket, which I dump after each defrost cycle.

The cantaloupe is in there now. It should finish up this morning. I’ll let the freeze dryer defrost on its own and this evening. I’ll put something else in there .. not sure if it will be the corn or some candy I’ve been wanting to try. Probably the corn and maybe getting it out of the freezer will get me closer to deciding to defrost it.