Hey friend,
Garden's throwing more at us than the kitchen can keep up with right now, and that always gets me thinking about what to run through the freeze dryer next. This week I want to hand you a tray that surprised me, catch you up on the tomato experiment I promised, and answer a real question a few of you sent in about mylar bags that keep coming open. Let's get into it.
This week's freeze dry
Watermelon, feta, and mint earned a spot in the rotation this week. Cube 4 cups of watermelon into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces and spread it across a parchment or silicone lined tray. Crumble 5 ounces of feta evenly over the top, then tear fresh mint by hand and scatter it across everything. Freeze at -10F, add 2 hours 30 minutes if you're loading straight into the machine without pre freezing, then dry at 120F. Run the full cycle plus 24 hours of extra dry time, checking along the way, this one needs to come out crisp and airy all the way through, closer to popcorn than dried fruit. One medium tray, and I ate half the jar before I noticed I'd started.
What worked this week
I promised you an update on the tomato watering experiment I teased for Thursday, and here it is. Side by side plants, one variable changed, and the difference is easy to see on camera. A few of you jumped into the comments right away asking why the same setup would not work in your own garden. Fair question. Every yard runs on different soil and water, so test it yourself before you expect the same result. The plants are not done proving it out either, so more numbers are coming as the experiment plays out.
The freeze-dry takeaway
A few of you asked the real question this week. One of you wrote in asking what to use to close mylar bags, because the sealer that came with the machine has let some bags come open later. Here's the check I run every batch. Before I ever seal a bag, I look at what's going into it. Anything with a hard edge, a jagged pretzel piece, the corner of a chip, a shard off a dried noodle, can work a pinhole through mylar over weeks on a shelf even after a clean seal. When I'm portioning something like noodles, I twirl them into a loose circle before they go on the tray. That one habit alone has kept more bags sealed for me than anything else I do. Pair it with an oxygen absorber in every bag, since that's what keeps the contents shelf stable to begin with, and you've closed off the two most common reasons a mylar bag fails months down the line.
From the comments
One of you is trying grapes for the first time after this week's growing update, and another fan jumped in before I even got the chance to answer. "Currently researching this as I am attempting grapes as well and it looks like it shall work. Good luck." That's exactly the kind of thing I love seeing, you all trading notes before I even show up.
Try this before next week
Watermelon is still coming in strong for a lot of you. Run one tray of the watermelon, feta, and mint before the season turns, then reply and tell me which side of that flavor combo you land on.
In Freeze-Dry Buddy
The Library can now turn a photo into a full recipe card. Snap a picture of a handwritten card or a page out of an old cookbook and the app builds the recipe for you, ingredients, directions, and all, so those family recipes stop living in a kitchen drawer. Everyone gets three scans free before it moves into Pro. Zucchini is having a moment in the app too, five runs logged this week alone and nine total since the app opened. If your zucchini pile is stacking up the same way, the app will do the shelf math for you.