Agree with @trually marshmallow is turn into Lucky charms crunchy things and lose the marshmallow-y goodness.
If the machine is misbehaving and you bought it at Costco…
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It’s working fine now. We found that we have to leave the rubber gasket pulled out just a hair and not shoved all the way back. I’m running my second batch of strawberries right now and I could see the seal marks all the way around the door as soon as I locked it. So it’s all good. I have a bunch of mylar bags, another set of trays, another bottle of vacuum oil, and the wifi setup ordered from Harvest Right and should get it all by Friday or Monday, along with the new shelf insulation. I have also ordered two sets of 700cc oxygen absorbers from Amazon. I don’t know that I need 700cc absorbers, but that’s what came with the machine and I know you can’t have too many cc’s, but you can have too few.
As far as the marshmallows, I was thinking it would just help with more long-term storage instead of them getting all gummy. I have a tendency to buy several bags at a time for rice krispie treats, but then don’t get around to making the treats as often as I think I will. Have you tried rehydrating them at all?
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Not yet! Wifi setup? I need to look into this!!
I’m glad it is working!! Does your door sweat?
In Hawaii that door gets condensation without the pillow.
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I’ve made a few types of marshmallows but I haven’t tried rehydrating them.
Some of them were kinda fun. I didn’t mind the lucky charm ones. But I probably wouldn’t make them often. Maybe if I had a specific use for them. My daughter LOVES marshmallows (I have some pretty funny stories about that, like her hiding in the pantry and tearing open a bag of marshmallows and eating a bunch, not long ago either haha). But she has braces right now, so freeze dried ones aren’t great for her. Later on maybe. 
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@Aloha, yeah, the wifi is so you can operate it with your phone, but you have to have a certain dryer. It’s $70 but I think it will be totally worth it, especially if I have something getting done in the middle of the night, I can set the extra dry for more time without having to run downstairs. My door does sweat some, so I need to look into the door pillow. But I noticed the condensation to be on the outside so I just wiped it off. Here’s the info on the wifi from Harvest Right site:
For current freeze dryer owners, before you purchase the Wi-Fi Upgrade Kit, make sure your freeze dryer is compatible. Due to hardware constraints, Harvest Right PRO freeze dryers are the only ones that can be upgraded to Wi-Fi and the new version 6.0 software. The easiest way to determine if you have a PRO model is to check the shelf count on the freeze dryer; Small: 4 shelves, Medium: 5, Large: 6, X-Large: 7. If you are unsure which size freeze dryer you own, you can check the serial number on the back of your freeze dryer (ex: P-MTF (medium)). If you still need help determining if your freeze dryer will work with wi-fi, please call Customer Service.
Kit Includes:
• Wi-Fi USB Adapter
• New, patented version 6 software
• Harvest Right App
Benefits:
• Control freeze dryers with your phone
• Be notified immediately when batches finish
• Easy-to-use software runs batches faster with better, higher quality results
• New patented Candy Mode perfectly freeze dries candy easier and faster
• The Harvest Right App provides tips and recipes for nearly every food and candy
• Save your own settings and recipes for easy access in the Harvest Right App
• Instant Customer Support available via the Harvest Right App
How do you usually store your freeze dried food? In mylar or jars? I know if you plan on long-term storage, it says mylar is best, and for snack foods airtight jars are fine. I’m thinking of doing part of this strawberry batch in a jar so we can snack on them. (I just hit more time for extra dry so I can take care of it after breakfast this morning).
@trually, that’s funny about your daughter hiding in the closet eating marshmallows! Would there be much difference between regular and freeze-dried marshmallows as far as her braces? Seems like both would get stuck.
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I use the mylar bags, but for some things that I don’t care if it discolours it goes into a mason jar with a moisture pouch and I use an electric vacuum sealer. Like the ginger and garlic are in the mason jars.
The costco ginger was getting dry in the fridge so I blended it up and used the ice trays to make freeze dried ginger spice.
Thanks for the details on the wifi! I may qualify.
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I ordered the wifi… but they wanted a ton for shipping, so I am shipping it to my inlaws in Michigan.
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Awesome. My wifi is supposed to be here tomorrow! That’s the problem with living on the Island - shipping! Everything costs more where you are! I haven’t been able to find a vacuum sealer for my jars. I had ordered one on Amazon and it never shipped (so I wasn’t charged). I need to buy some ginger and do that as well.
I have garlic I dehydrated that’s been stored in mason jars for the last two years (still works fine, as I always just grind it for powder anyway. I wonder if I should put it in the freeze dryer and re-dry it? I have some strawberries that I’d dehydrated as well. Think I’ll freeze dry those also. I have named my freeze dryer Frieda, because I kept having trouble remembering it was a freeze dryer and not my dehydrator!
I did bananas yesterday and took them out this morning. I’ve got the peels ready to do after Frieda defrosts and I get her cleaned. We had done some research and found that the peels are edible, and healthful. So when we made smoothies last summer, we’d just cut the whole banana and put the chunks in the blender with the rest of the ingredients. They were fine. So I’ll take the peels and freeze dry them. I’ve read where some eat them like chips, but I’ll probably grind them into powder for use in cakes, icings, puddings, breads, etc.
I’m just having so much fun with this, and am excited to experiment more.
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Costco is about the same prices though.
And amazon delivers.
More freeze dried fun!!!
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Regular mini marshmallows are pretty easy for her to eat. That was actually one of the snacks they said was ok, and the puffy Cheetos, not as bad as regular chips or crunchy cheetos, if that makes sense. Some things get stuck in the palate expander occasionally, she is freaking out less now when that happens, thankfully. lol
Good news, saw orthodontist this morning and she doesn’t need a wire/bracket to replace those that came off yet. Her teeth have adjusted ahead of schedule, now it’s just watching her growth and teeth coming in. The expander is holding everything in place quite well. Did a panoramic xray today (which she rocked) and go back in 6 weeks. Nice!
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Glad she’s doing so well with her braces! Especially if her teeth are adjusting ahead of schedule! The pic you posted on Pics Only is really adorable. She has such a great smile.
@Aloha, it’s great that you can have Amazon deliver your stuff! I never would have thought of doing it that way instead of directly from the company. I am having a total blast with it. I’ve been using it every day, and will probably be doing so for quite a while, as I still have a lot of strawberries to do, and just bought some green bananas (which I’ll do after they ripen a bit in a day or two, as Frieda is running a batch of 6 cans worth of tomato paste. I plan to just turn it all into powder so I can make sauce when I need it and it won’t go bad. I’ve had to throw cans away (the problem with buying too much bulk at Costco) because they went bad.
Today we ate some of the FD strawberries and bananas, and my husband loved them. And I bought some Mini Starburst and ice cream bars to try. I wanted some caramel M&Ms, but we couldn’t find any! When we were at the store, we looked at a package of banana chips and read the ingredients on it. It definitely made us believers in FD food we do ourselves! The banana chips had about 5 other ingredients, including added sugar and banana flavoring! Our are just banana. Gotta love it. And we do! And my wifi upgrade kit came today! I have to wait till the tomato paste is done before I can hook it up though.
Oh, and I tried the FD banana peels. Yuk! 
They tasted and had the texture of chalky cardboard. I even tried to give one to the dog and she dropped it out of her mouth as fast as she could! 
So I just threw them away. If I want to eat the peels, I’ll use fresh, blended ones in smoothies. 
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We also buy too much stuff at Costco, and have had tomato paste go bad on us, great idea to freeze dry it!
Starbursts never came out well for us, they just turned hard, skittles are magic!
I heard that banana peels are great for fertilizing the garden, if they are soaked in water for a while and fermented. Although I probably heard it on this website
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I would suggest just cutting the tomato paste into 1/4" slices instead of spreading it out like I did. It was more trouble to break it into pieces that would fit in my grinder, and the parchment curled up on two of the trays. Good to know about the Starburst. Will have to try the Skittles as well. I did see something about using the banana peels in the garden, but I think it was on some FD FB page that popped up, or maybe in one of the little clips on the HR website. I am doing another load of bananas right now and just threw the peels away.
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@Aloha - when you get the wifi upgrade for your FD, you’re gonna love it! You need to keep it plugged in for the wifi to work, so I just used double-backed tape to tape it to the side where it plugs in. It works wonderfully! I have it set to notify me for each cycle. Yesterday I did another load of bananas and they didn’t finish until 12:30am. The notification on my phone woke me up and I was able to extend the drying time from bed instead of having to get up and go downstairs to set it for when we’d get up.
Today I’m gonna FD ice cream sandwiches and see how we like them.
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Keychains!
Something something something!
Freeze drying masterclass!
Yeah that seems about right for this forum.
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Cool!!!
The ice cream was finicky for me. I needed to freeze the actual tray first, i guess the warmth of the actual tray here caused them to melt before they could freeze and the final product was a bunch of sad crunchy melted ice cream sandwiches.
I’v seen people making small scoop icecream bites also. But haven’t done it.
I’m excited for the wifi. it will be 1.5 weeks before I can get to try it.
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Want to hear how your ice cream sandwiches go.
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