Nope. I mean, you can try. I won’t stop you, because for the time being this is a free country. But let’s be honest, I don’t want you to waste your money doing something that a lot of other people have already proven isn’t a good idea. You can’t freeze dry bacon and end up with a successful product.
We love bacon here. Love it. But we can’t freeze it – I mean, we can and we do, but it’s not the best to store for more than a year in the freezer. As it is, it’s probably going to get freezer burn at that point. So, what can we do?
And, I know you’re here at Freeze Drying Mama, so the next logical answer would be freeze drying, but as stated above, that’s not the answer either.
Wait. Don’t run in fear. I know canning sounds daunting. Pressure canner. Hot water bath. Seals. All the things that literally… I usually don’t love talking about. But after I moved and I realized I need to be able to store some things better than just throwing them in the freezers, I did a bunch of research.
Pressure canning isn’t scary. In fact, it’s a lot like freeze drying. You do your prep work, set up the machine, let it work for it’s amount of time, and then you clean up and put away. Easy.
Pressure canning doesn’t need to be fancy. I’m using one my mother-in-law got me at a garage sale. It’s missing a handle and glass and you know what? I love it! It works great and it’s pretty big! I did buy this one as a backup.
As you can see, I cut this bacon into about half inch chunks. I’ve done 2 inch chunks as well. It’s your preference and how you’re going to use them when you’re finished.
I did an experiment when I first started canning bacon. I would give a lot of space and not pack the chunks into the jar. But once I saw how much it cooked down, I started packing it as high as I could get it and as tight. It shrinks a LOT.
I brought my 7 quart jars up to 10 lbs pressure and then held it there for 40 minutes. Once I hit the time, I turned off the heat and let it cool. Once I was able to safely take the lid off, I pulled out my jars to finish cooling on a cloth for 24 to 48 hours.
You can see the lovely juices in there mixed with all the meat. I’m a HUGE bacon fat fan and I didn’t want to lose it all by canning bacon wrapped in parchment paper. If that’s how you do your bacon, that’s terrific! I just really value those juices.
I also, don’t always just make strips of bacon. I use bacon in a lot of my soup recipes, casseroles, eggs, omelets, etc. So, I like having everything available to me – minus the paper.
Here it is open. You can see all of the beautiful juices and fats as well as the meat. If I wanted to, I could just use a spoon and eat it as is, but that takes all of the fun out of it.
I scooped out a bit of the meat and a scoop of the fat and put it on a griddle. Spreading it out, I made sure to give it a minute to crisp up.
I had some of this egg and so did my daughter. I should just tell the truth and say what really happened. I offered my daughter a bite, then I took one and then she walked off with the plate.
There are so many different ways to do things. I don’t believe in the One Way Mentality. I just don’t. I like rebel canning, Amish canning, I like freeze drying, and I like dehydrating. I like all the ways and I’m open to anything.
I’ve had a lot of people tell me there’s no way you can keep candy good “into the end”. I’ve been told that sugary things are not good to store because the sugar content sucks up the water in the air and gets sticky and tends to get “juicy”.
The reason it does that is because the molecular structure of a carbohydrate (also known as a sugar) attaches to the hydrogen-oxygen bonds in the air. This makes them “moist” (yep, I put that word in there… sorry!).
When they attach to water molecules, that’s when they go bad. No one wants to eat a damp Skittle when you’re faced with other depressing things. We all just want a tasty treat to help us snap out of the hardships that are supposed to come with the “end of the world”.
Some people have decided they can’t take candy with them. They have decided that they must “survive” on wheat and powdered milk alone. Just thinking about it makes me NOT want to survive.
Freeze Dry CheesecakeFor everyone who thinks you can’t prepare treats for “the end”, I beg to differ. True, there are some candies that respond better than others to food preservation. This is frustrating to say the least. I mean, I tried freeze drying Dots, the gummy candies, and they did NOTHING, except get softer because of the heat. It was so uninspiring that I just let my kids eat them. They didn’t even notice a difference.
But not all candies are created equal. Some did surprisingly well! Freeze dried candy is definitely a great reason to try out a freeze dryer.
Since I got my trusty FD’er, I’ve tried a few things. You get to benefit from my experimentation. I’ll continue adding candy here as I try it. So check back often!
I’ve tried various sizes because my kids don’t like them and they always get a TON when they trick-or-treat. They add them to my freeze drying pile and let me experiment with just about anything.
I separated them on the tray because as you’ll see later in this post, salt water taffy blew up, taking more space than they originally did. I didn’t want to have Tootsie Rolls stuck to each other. So I gave them plenty of space. Same as the Dots.
As you can see here, the Tootsie Rolls after being freeze dried are more like a wafer in a matte brown color. They’re extremely light and when you bite into them, they’re like biting the inside of a Whopper – almost like a malt ball, but not.
The Dots were unimpressive. There was no change. They underwent the full 16 hours with the Tootsie Rolls and they didn’t hold onto their temperature even though they hadn’t changed. Usually if something isn’t finished freeze drying, they maintain the chill of the frozen water. These Dots did not have any temperature change.
You can pull them and twist them. They come in a bunch of different flavors and colors. My kids don’t adore them like I do, but that’s only because I haven’t had a chance to take them to the salt water taffy store in Seaside, Oregon. When I do, they’ll fall in love with them in their natural state.
These suckers are on parchment paper. I didn’t account for expansion and that was a surprise when I opened the machine after 15 hours to find them ballooned up.
When you bite into them they’re hard but then dissolve in your mouth like cotton candy but also kind of stringy. The flavors and color are still intact. There are little pockets of air inside, too, extremely small.
They were eccentric to eat and try, but we probably won’t do them again, either. Why? Because I like my salt water taffy stretchy and moldable. If I wanted to eat hard cotton candy, I’d consider the Tootsie Rolls above – they at least pretend to be chocolate.
When my son tried them he claimed they hurt his throat as he was trying them. Not always a good thing! But the flavor was enhanced. So there’s that.
Their insides split the sweet candy shell. Definitely made them interesting. If you’re looking to try some without freeze drying them, you can check out this place that ships a fun package of them to your place. Freeze Dried Skittles.
Something I’m highly addicted to but can’t seem to keep from going bad in the bag (I get bags and bags when they go on sale and we don’t eat them nearly fast enough) are marshmallows.
I seriously can’t get enough. When my daughter and I went off sugar, these were the hardest things to continue having in the house. I figure if something happens, I won’t care what size jeans I’m in. You know, I’ll want a bag of these puffy pieces of heaven for comfort food. To be clear, I’m good with that.
Before: you can see these ones are fresh. They don’t stick to each other and they’re plump and fluffy. I want to eat one right now!