Freeze drying

Have you ever stood in the fruit section of the supermarket and wondered how all the exotic fruits make it from the other side of the world to us, only to be ripe exactly when they land on the display?

We'll tell you something: They're not ripe at all. Because fruits from overseas are harvested when they are not yet fully grown. They are then allowed to ripen in containers or in huge warehouses; often using chemicals. It is obvious that they can no longer fill up on nutrients and flavors, but - on the contrary - lose flavor, vitamins and minerals with each passing day.

We won't play this game. After all, it is our declared goal to deliver the real taste of the wide world to your home - including the valuable micronutrients, of course. That's why we decided on a completely different approach: we rely on freeze-drying.

How does freeze drying work?

The freeze-drying process is not that old. Because in order to really use it, a lot had to be invented. The vacuum chamber, for example, or ice condensers.

Today, freeze drying is used in numerous areas. In archeology, for example, to preserve finds. Or in pharmaceuticals to stabilize active ingredients in the long term. And of course the process can also be used to preserve food for a long time while preserving flavors and nutrients.

There is a lot of technology behind the process, which we explain in detail below - using our delicious fruits as an example, of course.

Step #1: Harvest and chop like you do in your garden.

Before it even comes close to a drying facility, our fruit's journey begins in the classic way: they are only harvested when the fruits are really ripe. That's why we don't pick green bananas and hope that they will turn yellow in time. Instead, we let them soak up so much sun that they almost fall off the palm (or tree, or bush) on their own.

After the harvest comes the bath. Our fruits are washed thoroughly with clear water. After all, even organic fruit always contains dust or plant residues.

Then all you have to do is grab a knife and cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces. Everything is exactly the same as you would do it at home when picking apples. Theoretically, our fruits could now be eaten directly. However, they still have to be prepared for transport to you.

Step #2: It's getting icy.

That's why we're now actually moving on to freeze-drying and it starts - as the name suggests - with a lot of cold. The fruits are shock frozen. Mind you: SHOCK frozen, not just slowly frozen.

Why? Because water normally expands when it freezes. That's why forgotten bottles in the freezer are so prone to bursting and the freezing water would also burst the cells in a deep-frozen fruit. Not only would this be a fruit explosion in the truest sense of the word, but above all, numerous nutrients and flavors would be lost. With shock freezing, on the other hand, the water simply doesn't have time to spread. Just like all other components of the fruit, it goes directly into a crystalline state.

For that to happen, however, it has to get really, really cold. The capacitors of a freeze dryer reach temperatures of up to -85° Celsius. The only place on our planet that gets this cold is Antarctica during a bad hurricane. If you've ever seen a video of how a bucket of water that's poured out freezes instantly in the Siberian winter, it's not half as cold there.

Step #3: This will take your breath away.

Why this icy cold? Because now it's getting physical, because our frozen fruits go straight from the cold chamber into the negative pressure chamber. You can imagine it a bit like a diving bell, with the subtle difference that the pressure from outside does not increase, but the pressure inside the chamber decreases. Until the fruits are almost in a vacuum.

Because then something magical - or rather scientific - happens: Maybe you remember from school that the properties of a substance change when it is exposed to different physical conditions. On the summit of Mt. Everest, water boils at 74° Celsius and so on.

The ice-cold, crystallized water in our vacuum begins a process called sublimation. This means that it goes from the solid state directly to the gaseous state and skips the liquid state. It sublimates. Up to 90 percent of their water can be removed from the fruits in this way.

If you're now wondering what happens to the remaining ten percent of water: even shock freezing couldn't convince it to crystallize. The reason for this is strong interactions between the solid components of the fruit and the water and also a lot of chemistry. Theoretically, it is even possible to eliminate even this last drop using so-called secondary drying. But we don't do that because it would require additives - and we don't like additives.

Step #4: Please crunch now.

What leaves the freeze-drying process are our crunchy fruit chips. Completely ready and ready to eat. Now they can begin their long journey with peace of mind, because almost nothing changes inside them. They hardly lose any flavor or micronutrients and do not turn brown or even become mushy.

But they now have a particularly long shelf life. Because what ensures that fruit rots sooner rather than later? That's right, microorganisms such as bacteria that have their home in the fruits. They themselves are not only harmless; Life on earth would not be possible at all without these microorganisms. However, their excretions cause the fruit to spoil. However, the small organisms need water, among other things, to spread - and we have just taken that away from the fruits.

Once they have arrived in our latitudes, our delicious snacks are carefully weighed by our hard-working employees in the workshops and filled with a portion of love. Last but not least, it's your turn. You can now snack and enjoy.

Why freeze-dried fruit is such a good thing.

We know what you're asking yourself: Why all the effort? We could just put the fruit in the oven at 200°. The water eventually evaporates. Many dried fruits are actually preserved this way, but this method has two huge disadvantages:

Drying at high temperatures is a no-go.

Firstly, heat is not enough to remove sufficient water from the fruit - at least not if drying is to be done as quickly and cheaply as possible. That's why many manufacturers still add a good portion of sulfur to the fruit as a preservative. Whether this is good for you and your loved ones is at least questionable.

Secondly, heat is damaging to everything that makes fruits so good for us: the micronutrients they contain are destroyed. Heat-treated dried fruits contain significantly fewer vitamins than fresh fruit. Not to mention the impact on their taste.

Freeze drying preserves what is good.

However, things are completely different with freeze drying. With this process we can not only preserve our fruits for a long time without any preservatives; Mainly, the process is extremely gentle on the micronutrients contained in the fruit.

Because unlike water, vitamins and minerals cannot sublimate. They remain almost completely behind. Only a tiny fraction is dissolved with the evaporating water. They are then perfectly preserved in the fruit because freeze-drying does not destroy any cell membranes. As if sealed in small safes, the micronutrients are just waiting to do their job in your body.

Finally, if we can get a little mathematical: Strictly speaking, our dried fruits actually contain more vitamins and minerals than fresh fruit. At least mathematically. Because of the sublimated water, our fruits naturally lose a lot of weight. For example, 96 grams of our freeze-dried strawberries contain the same amount of nutrients as 1.2 kilograms of fresh fruit. In order to get your daily vitamin requirements, you no longer have to eat a whole bowl of fruit salad, but can snack on the appropriate portion in between.

Freeze-dried fruits from buah: What else we would like to give you.

Now you are almost an expert in freeze drying. You know how the process works and why freeze-drying is so much better than dehydrating the fruit under high heat. Because of preserving the micronutrients and flavors and so on...

To ensure that your buah dried fruits remain tasty and nutritious for a long time, our very last tip is: Always keep your little treats dry, protected from light and well packaged. For example, in a storage jar with a snap closure from our shop that you store in your kitchen. Then our fruit will last for many months.

However, freeze drying is not the only drying process we use.