History of freeze-drying: what is its curious origin?

Although freeze-drying is a technique in constant progress that has revolutionised the traditional production of foods, probiotics, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and medicines, it is necessary to dive far back in history to find its origins.

Indeed, it has a curious origin that arose out of necessity, like so many other discoveries that have been born at the whim of man’s survival and reflect his intelligence and capacity to adapt.

Where can we find the origin of such an innovative technique as freeze-drying in the ancient alchemy of Egypt, Persia, China or Greece? It would be logical to think so, but the reality is further away, on the other side of the world.

Let’s start by travelling to South America, to the ancient indigenous cultures of the Andes, to find the Aymara, a pre-Inca tribe that controlled the regions around Lake Titicaca. There, at almost 4,000 metres above sea level, the terrible weather conditions posed a constant challenge to survival.

The diet of the Aymara, primarily based on agricultural products, was based on the potato as one of their most important substances (the same potato that the Spanish would later bring to old Europe). You may not know that the potato generates a toxic substance, solanine, if it is subjected, for example, to excessive exposure to the sun, and can generate severe symptoms of poisoning.

Well, the Aymara discovered how to eliminate these toxins and at the same time preserve the potatoes for long periods of time. For more than 1,500 years they have been preparing a local staple food they call “chuno” with these freeze-dried “potatoes” in a rudimentary but incredibly perfect way.

The ancestral process of freeze-dried “papa“

The “papas” were left outside the Aymara houses all night, so at that altitude they would freeze easily. Later, they were trampled, as is done with grapes in our Mediterranean cultures, and then placed in loose wicker baskets and left in streams for a few weeks (in this way, the wild tubers released up to 97% of their toxins).

After this time, the potatoes were again left on the doorstep of the houses, where they were frozen at night and dried in the sun during the day, squeezed occasionally, and so on until the product managed to evaporate all the water it contained.

In this simple (but ingenious) way, the Aymara used the tools provided by their natural environment: high altitude, low pressure and bright sunshine to do an effective job: the first freeze-drying in history!

From then until now, the basics have remained the same. Freeze-drying involves using low pressure, extreme cold and gentle heat to remove that solid water from the frozen food, without having to melt it first. The result, even then, allowed the Aymara people to obtain food that was edible and storable for up to 20 years.

It took many years for other forms of freeze-drying to appear in the world, initially related to science and medicine. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, a German scientist succeeded in freeze-drying organ parts, and in the early 20th century, Vansteenberghe and D’Arsonval experimented with and eventually patented a method for freeze-drying the rabies virus.

It took many years for other forms of freeze-drying to appear in the world, initially related to science and medicine. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, a German scientist succeeded in freeze-drying organ parts, and in the early 20th century, Vansteenberghe and D’Arsonval experimented with and eventually patented a method for freeze-drying the rabies virus.

However, it was during the Second World War that the Americans saw this process as the best way to preserve blood plasma and penicillin. The need to transport and store them in the best conditions sharpened the ingenuity of scientists and was the beginning of modern freeze-drying techniques.

During the 1950s, this technology was refined, moved into other fields of industry and became common in consumer food products, including food for camping, or for going to the moon!  Since the 1960s, we can find hundreds of freeze-dried foods in shops, starting with instant coffee.

NASA technology: the creation of the first freeze-dried ice cream

In the early days of the space program, back in the 1970s, one of the biggest challenges was feeding the astronauts during the expeditions. They needed food that was stable, storable, durable, lightweight, and easy to prepare.

At first, they were fed on bite-sized cubes, freeze-dried powders and semi-liquids squeezed into aluminum tubes, like toothpaste. All this was unappetizing, so innovation was needed, and gradually, thanks to improved freeze-drying processes, foods that could be reconstituted in cold water in just 10 minutes or less. Of course, these freeze-drying techniques were not only extrapolated to the manufacture of food for treks and expeditions, but also triumphed in the everyday consumer market.

CURIOSITIES BARNALAB freeze-dried products:

With millions of people watching the astronauts landing on the moon, interest in the space program led to some very ingenious initiatives. At the Ames Research visitor center in California, for example, they came up with the idea that visitors could taste the astronauts’ food. And from there they went on to invent the most difficult yet: the first freeze-dried ice cream in history. Thus, was born Astronaut Ice Cream, available today in more than 1,000 outlets in the United States and the best-selling product at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Astronaut Foods now sells freeze-dried treats, and even plans to add a line of “treats” for pets.

Today, we can say that freeze-drying is in vogue. It is a trend in gastronomy and is increasingly used to produce probiotics, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, or medicines, for the preservation of vaccines, antibiotics, blood products or mother’s milk, and even for taxidermy and the preservation of old documents and books.

The global market for freeze-dried foods

The global freeze-dried food market is growing at a rate of 7.4% per year, according to Mordor Intelligence, with the North American market accounting for the largest share with 35%, and the South American and Asia-Pacific markets the fastest growing.

In terms of processes, they have become much more sophisticated. Water is removed from previously frozen food in a low-energy system by sublimation, and a vacuum pump reduces the pressure to almost zero, so that the water frozen in the food starts to evaporate. In this way, about 99% of the water contained in the product is extracted and the product retains its shape and volume but with less weight. Once rehydrated, it will regain its original texture, aroma, and flavors.

In short, freeze-drying is not only an ingenious way to ensure survival (tell that to the Aymara), but also an incredible technique for preserving nutrients (freeze-dried food retains 97% of its nutrients) and the organoleptic properties of food.