The freeze drying process enables you to eliminate nearly all moisture from any fruit or vegetable for preserving it. Aside from the sheer variety of benefits it offers, the main advantage of freeze drying is the ability to produce clean, whole, and nutritious food ingredients with a significantly extended shelf life. This makes foodstuffs even more versatile, accessible, and convenient.

Strong growth for ready-to-eat foods is expected to drive the freeze dried soup market forward. This expansion is due to a rising consumer awareness of both eating healthy & nutritious foods and achieving an extensive shelf life for their storage foods.

What Is The Freeze Drying Process?

Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization, removes moisture from food products using a combination of a vacuum system and a process known as sublimation.

The desired food product is either cut into pieces or portioned into containers and evenly distributed onto trays and loaded into the freeze drying machines. The food is flash frozen, attaining a characteristic where it can preserve the product’s original shape, color, and nutrition.

The chamber’s vacuum system removes ice from the product by transforming it directly into vapor without passing through the liquid state. This technique is known as sublimation. Because the water is extracted from the product while it is frozen, the cell structure remains unchanged, and the finished product resembles its fresh former self!

Various Benefits of Freeze Dried Foods

Consumer values are shifting, with more people seeking nutrition from more natural food sources with comprehensible labels. Because freeze dried foods are minimally processed, they can contain clean ingredients free of synthetic, artificial, and heavily processed materials while retaining their long shelf life.

• The proposal of verified, whole food serving claims are driven by consumers’ desire for nutrition from real and understandable sources. Industry experts can easily meet these concerns with offers of freeze dried fruits and vegetables.

• The freeze drying process maintains nutritional value more effectively than other food drying methods. The process also preserves the original raw material’s color and shape, assuring consumers that they’re eating real fruits and vegetables. Freeze dried ingredients’ intimate aroma and flavor closely resemble the raw material profile.

• Another benefit of lyophilization is the ability to tailor the process to particular needs and project objectives. Various amounts and shapes of freeze dried ingredients can be cut or ground. Everything is available, from whole vegetables and fruits to fine powders. The completed food product can be easily blended into any composition or formulation to create a flavor profile that is unique to your final result.

• Personalization and blending capabilities enable food producers to implement whole food vegetables and fruits for various preparing purposes by consumers. Breakfast applications such as hot and cold cereals, ready-to-eat snacks, and drink applications such as smoothies are made better by freeze dried products from a growing category of freeze dried applications.

• The shelf life of any given product is directly related to its moisture content. Removing water via the freeze drying process eliminates the possibility of bacterial growth. Moisture content varies by product, but an average food product, once it has been processed using lyophilization is around 3%. The actual shelf life of any given freeze dried food product is determined by the packaging, storage temperature, and the food itself.

Why Are More People Opting For Freeze Dried Soup?

Dried soups outperform other kinds of soups, such as canned soups, easing concerns about long-term consumption in the soup industry. Likewise, ready-to-eat soups are popular among the working class as a quick and nutritious daily food alternative. The freeze drying process creates a simple enough end result that they are available in nationwide grocery stores in various flavors in cups and pouches.

The dried soup market is expected to expand for various reasons, including an increased consumer demand for prepared foods. Dry soups in particular are gaining popularity due to the inclusion of nutritious dietary items such as lean meat and vegetable meat, while maintaining an all-around simplistic format for eating meals in a variety of settings.

How Shepherd Foods Can Bring Your Business Higher

If you are a food manufacturer and you are looking to invest in a profitable industry, choosing freeze dried foods might just be for you! For more information, give Shepherd Foods a call at (800) 497-8321 and learn more about our co-manufacturing and co-packaging services.

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