I’ll take you through the unboxing and setup process of the HR FD XL, Harvest Right’s remarkable extra-large freeze dryer. Join me as I share my firsthand experience of receiving and unpacking this incredible appliance. Together, we’ll explore everything from checking the dimensions to lifting the weighty unit, and I’ll provide you with valuable insights and tips if you’re considering the HR FD XL for your freeze-drying needs.
Read more Unboxing and Setup of the Harvest Right XL Freeze Dryer: A Closer Look
Making silicone mats for the 3-tray freeze dryer
Why use silicone mats for Freeze Drying? Some food glues itself to the freeze-dryer trays
See the silicone mat in action.
Here is the silicone mat we used for our small freeze dryer trays.
Before we bought our own freeze dryer, we used my dad’s standard size, 4-tray unit. It’s was older one with the simple, non-touch display with two control knobs. We bought the small, 3-tray unit because it’s just the three of us. We’ve freeze dried leftovers, homemade baby food, random fruit boxes that we bought from our local farmer’s market, and half of our food from Costco.
We love white peaches. We had to run between 5-6 separate cycles to finally finish drying all the slices of white peaches we had. The one step of the process that took longer than anticipated was removing the peach slices from the trays. The peaches were quite ripe, and we blanched them to remove the skin, so they were a bit slimy. After the freeze drying cycle, they were glued to the trays.