John Placko, Culinary Director at the Modern Culinary Academy and Bar 120 in Toronto, had been interested in the idea of freeze drying food since he was a kid. Like many of us, he was introduced to freeze drying when he heard about “space ice cream”, or freeze-dried ice cream sent up on Apollo 7. (Though we’ve since learned that “space ice cream” is part of folklore, it didn’t dampen our enthusiasm, either.) John bought a Harvest Right freeze dryer and set about experimenting with a variety of foods. In his recent article in Food in Canada magazine, he does an excellent job of explaining the history and science of freeze drying, as well as proper freeze drying process and food storage.

John says his granddaughter loves freeze-dried fruits and yogurts, while his favorite are the bite-size scoops of chocolate ice cream. He also loves experimenting with fresh foods such as oranges, kiwi fruit, beets, mango and even avocado. He says freeze-dried avocado is delicious grated onto a cold appetizer – we’re going to try that!

The beauty of freeze-dried foods is that they can be free from added sugar or additives. – John Placko, Culinary Director at the Modern Culinary Academy and Bar 120

This is a wonderfully written article from a food-lover’s point of view. Read the whole article here. We hope to hear more about how John uses his freeze dryer at home and at work.