Freeze Dried Fruit and Veggie Powders

 

"I'm having way too much fun with my freeze dryer!" says one of my good friends who is another avid FD enthusiast.  And I agree with her! There are just so many options when you choose to freeze dry your own food.  My food storage is no longer limited to the boring old "wheat, rice, beans and oats" routine.  My food storage is only limited by my imagination, which is currently running wild. 

My plan is to come up with recipes for creating your own smoothies and drinks with these powders. But I see how these could also be used to add nutrition and flavor to pancakes, muffins, and quickbreads.  Maybe I could even sneak some kale powder into the lasagna and my kids will never know.

 Pictured above you see strawberry, mango, banana, pear, kale, and beets.  I've also done apple but it didn't make it to the photo.  I love all the vivid colors and boy do they smell wonderful!  I'm wondering if they could even be used as flavor enhancers instead of imitation flavorings. (Maybe I'll have to try lemon rind next?)

Our first experiment was to mix mango and strawberry powders into some seltzer water.  At first, we were disappointed with the result until we learned a few tricks.  

1. For 4 cups of seltzer water it took about 3 tablespoons of powder to get a strong enough flavor.  Maybe 4 would have been even better.

2.  You definitely want some sweetener in there.  We used organic stevia. 

3. You really gotta mix it up!  The powder tends to clump together as it rehydrates so make sure you either use a stick blender, traditional blender or really get that whisk going! 

Following those tips made a pretty yummy drink that disappeared so fast I didn't get a picture of it!  

Maybe next time. 

UPDATE: 3/21

My daughter discovered a wonderful use for the mango powder: Mango Whipped Cream!  So good.  She added the mango powder to homemade whipped cream. We ate it atop a fresh, juicy mango and wow! Such a great, simple dessert.  Definitely doing that again!