Have you ever heard of freeze-drying? Our friends at Wise by Nature use this process in the creation of their non-refrigerated freeze-dried smoothie blends. Read on to learn more about the benefits of this little-known process!
What is Freeze-Drying?
Freeze-drying uses advanced technology to remove a food’s water content while preserving all of its organoleptic qualities. The food is first quick-frozen, then put in a vacuum that causes ice to sublimate as water vapour. Once their water is removed, fruits and vegetables lose 85 to 95% of their initial weight. The process of drying foods without heating them prevents them from deteriorating: flavour, colour, fibres, and nutritional value are fully preserved.
A Process that Extends Shelf Life
The end product can be safely stored at room temperature for several years. No refrigeration is needed. Freeze-drying is used to produce survival food kits as well as daily meals for astronauts, soldiers, and long-range explorers. To restore the food’s original qualities, all you need to do is add water.
Optimized Nutritional Value
One of the main benefits of freeze-drying is that fruits and vegetables are picked when they are perfectly ripe and at peak nutritional value – unlike fresh produce at the supermarket when it is sourced abroad. This is often picked unripe and must ripen during transport, under far from ideal conditions.
Potential Benefits in Cancer Prevention
Freeze-drying is so effective that a number of studies on cancer prevention have been based on freeze-dried foods. One of these, carried out by Dr. Gary Stoner of the Medical College of Wisconsin, has shown that freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries have anticancerous benefits for patients.
This article is courtesy of our partner Wise by Nature who offers the very first non-refrigerated freeze-dried smoothie mixes in Canada!
