Sustaining Herbal Vibrancy Through Freeze-Drying

Can herbs retain their vibrant colors, potent flavors, and medicinal properties for longer periods? Absolutely! Join me, Demetria Clark, as we explore the remarkable process of freeze-drying herbs, also known as lyophilization. 
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This advanced preservation method rapidly freezes fresh herbs and then removes moisture through sublimation in a vacuum chamber, preserving heat-sensitive nutrients and minimizing oxidation. You'll learn how freeze-drying can extend the shelf life and potency of your herbal preparations, making them more effective and cost-efficient, whether you're crafting teas, tinctures, or culinary blends.

But that's not all! We'll also reflect on the evolving practices in herbalism, from traditional drying techniques to the now widely accepted microwave drying. Discover how adapting herbal practices can make herbal care more accessible and affordable for everyone, from clients facing housing instability to those maintaining community gardens. Plus, learn about our tool rental program that supports the sustainability of these gardens. Tune in for practical tips, insights, and a deeper understanding of how modern methods can enhance your herbal practice and better serve your community. For more information on our programs, visit heartofherbs.com or call us at 866-303-4372.

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The Heart of Herbs Podcast with Demetria Clark! 🌿 Tune in for herbal wisdom & wellness tips!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

Hello and welcome to the Heart of Herbs Herbal School Podcast. This is where we delve into the world of herbalism and natural healing. I'm Demetria Clark, your host, and today we're going to explore the fascinating process of freeze-drying herbs and the incredible benefits it offers. Whether you're an experienced herbalist or just starting your journey, you'll find valuable insights in today's episode. So let's get started. When we think about preserving herbs, drying them is often one of the first things that comes to mind, and drying them has been being done since the beginning of time, really. So you can bundle dry, hang dry dry on screens, use a food dehydrator, the oven, even the microwave can be used when drying herbs. But have you ever considered freeze drying? This advanced preservation method retains the vibrant colors, potent flavors and, most importantly, the medicinal properties of your herbs. So let's briefly go over some of the benefits of freeze drying and why it may be the best option for your herbal practice. Freeze drying is also known as lyophilization. It's an advanced preservation method that retains nutrients, flavors and the potency of herbs. Here's how the process works and why it's so effective at preserving nutrients.

Speaker 1: 2:08

The freeze-drying process Fresh herbs are rapidly frozen in low temperatures, and this step causes the water that are inside the herb cells to form ice crystals. Then there's primary drying sublimation. The frozen herbs are then placed in a vacuum chamber where the pressure is reduced. Heat is applied at a low temperature, causing the ice to sublime directly from solid to vapor without passing through the liquid phase. This in turn removes about 95% of the water content. Secondary drying In this final phase, any remaining moisture is removed by raising the temperature slightly. This ensures the herbs are completely dry, with moisture content typically below 2%.

Speaker 1: 2:53

Nutrient preservation mechanisms Low temperature processing so, like traditional drying methods, often involve heat, which can degrade sensitive nutrients, particularly vitamins and volatile compounds. Freeze drying occurs at low temperatures, which helps to maintain the integrity of heat. Sensitive nutrients minimal oxidization the vacuum environment of the freeze drying process reduces the exposure of herbs to oxygen. So by minimizing this oxidization it can prevent the processes that can degrade nutrients like vitamin C and phytochemicals. Freeze drying process also preserves the cellular structure of the herbs. This means when the herbs are rehydrated they can regain their original texture and nutrient profile more closely than herbs that are dried by other methods. By removing nearly all the water content, freeze drying effectively concentrates nutrients in the herbs. This means the herbs active compounds are preserved in a more potent form. So, in addition, when making medicine, you may find that you were able to use less in some of your formulas. Because it's closer to using fresh than dried Benefits over other drying methods. So, compared to air drying or oven drying, freeze drying better preserves vitamins, antioxidants and other phytochemicals.

Speaker 1: 4:26

They also have an extended shelf life. The extremely low moisture content of freeze dried herbs prevents microbial growth and enzyme activity, which can cause nutrient degradation over time. This results in a longer shelf life without the need for preservatives. Along with the nutrients, the flavors and colors of the herbs are more well-preserved. This is particularly important for culinary and medicinal applications, where sensory qualities of herbs are crucial. So let's talk about nutrient preservation.

Speaker 1: 5:00

One of the biggest advantages of freeze-drying herbs is that it preserves the maximum amount of nutrients. Traditional drying methods can degrade the essential oils and active compounds in herbs due to prolonged exposure to heat. Freeze-drying, on the other hand, uses low-temperature processes that maintains the integrity of these valuable compounds, ensuring your herbs remain as potent as the day they were harvested. Again, we're going to touch on the extended shelf life. Freeze-dried herbs can last for years without losing their medicinal properties. This is because the freeze-drying process removes nearly all the moisture, so you're also going to want to protect them from heat and light even after they're freeze-dried and they're put in their containers. And by removing the moisture which is the primary culprit behind mold and bacterial growth, things will last longer. By keeping your herbs in an airtight container, you can enjoy their benefits for an extended period of time, making it easier to keep a diverse apothecary right at your fingertips or easier to preserve items that you don't have as much of in your yard. So I like to freeze dry things pretty much right after harvesting in order to make sure I have all of the great benefits. But I also know another thing's going to be ready to be harvested soon, so I just kind of keep a nice rotation going.

Speaker 1: 6:28

Then there's the matter of flavor and color retention. So if you've ever compared the taste and appearance of fresh herbs to dried herbs, you'll know there's a huge difference. Right, everybody knows there's a huge difference. Freeze drying locks in the vibrant colors and intense flavors, making your herbal applications not only more effective but more appealing. This can be particularly important in culinary herbs or if you're making teas or tea blending, because color and flavor can make or break a dish or tea or a beverage.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Now, of course, there's the convenience factor. Freezed starch herbs are super lightweight and easy to store and they take up less space and can be rehydrated quickly when needed. So you can have the convenience of fresh herbs at your disposal year-round without worrying about spoilage or seasonal availability. You can simply add water and your herbs are ready to use just like fresh, or you can add them to medicinal preparations like teas and tinctures as needed throughout the year. For those of you who make herbal medicines, such as teas, tinctures, salves For those of you who make herbal medicines such as teas, tinctures, salves, liniments, freeze-dried herbs can be a game changer. They can enhance the potency and the purity, meaning you need less herb to achieve the desired effect, because the herbs are still so fresh and still have so many of the constituents that you harvested them for in the first place. Your preparations will be more efficient and cost effective. Plus, the extended shelf life means fewer trips to restock your supplies.

Speaker 1: 8:11

So how can you start freeze drying your herbs? Look, freeze dryers are expensive, don't get me wrong. You can go into freeze drying with some friends and family and divide the cost. You can have a friend who has a freeze dryer and talk to them about renting it or using it. You can invest in it for yourself. They pay off in the long run, especially for serious herbalists, small business owners, farmers. They're something that you can definitely get your money back relatively quickly, even if you look at freeze-drying meals.

Speaker 1: 8:49

I was talking to my husband and we were coming up with like, okay, this is expensive, we need this for the business, but how can we also Think about this in the perspective of in our daily life? And I was saying that if we could find you know, 10 dinners that I can make and freeze dry easily, that we can rehydrate and eat later, so when I'm busy I don't have to cook or I'm not going to spend money on takeout, which is something I almost never do anyways because I can't eat wheat or soy, so that's in almost everything that you buy. So by doing that, we figured that if we went out to a nice place like farm to table or something, we would probably spend between $50 and $100 on dinner. Well, if we could come up with those dinners ourselves and use the dinners that we make ourselves but it's the same convenience of, then you can kind of wheedle away at the price and I think that's the way we have to start looking at things is saying, okay, what am I willing to give up in order to have access to? And so I always try to think about things in that perspective and then to stick with it.

Speaker 1: 10:07

You know, for instance, I have something that I bought for therapy and it's a therapy pool, and I basically was looking at spending about $120 a month to go swim in someone else's pool and I was like, okay, well, how many times do I have to go swimming in order for this to pay off? Like, if I do it at $1 a swim or $2 a swim if you were going to pay, and then it's private and I don't have to wear clothes, I can use the kind of chemicals I want, so I'm not going to have to share a lane. You know, like all of those things like how how can I make this something that pays off and pays itself in the long run? So you can do that with, like a freeze dryer and you can say, okay, well, these are things that I can do. You can also sell the herbs that you freeze dry to others and other medicine makers. So there's lots of things that you can do to bring you know the cost down over time. So it's definitely an investment. There are smaller and more affordable models for home use and I'll put a link in the in the in the bio of this, just so you can find. You know different places that you can buy them. If you go to large stores like Rural, king or Lowe's Hardware, places like Bass Pro Shop, camping stores, sometimes they'll have some smaller home models available, so you could definitely look at those too. Look at those too.

Speaker 1: 11:49

I think it's really important to think about how we want herbs to be in our life and how we can maximize purchases like this. So if you're a tea blender, you can. You know if you have teas that have fruit in them, you can freeze dry seasonal fruit to add to your teas when it's, you know, being harvested. Or the same with herbs If you have um. If you are really into meal prepping, you can also do that with your your freeze dryer. So it's a way that you can really think about things differently and support your processes differently and your business differently. So we don't want to just talk to you about buying something because it's like the new cool gadget I mean anybody can do that with you. I like to talk to students about new equipment because I think it's equipment that can benefit them long-term. If you run an herbal clinic or an herbal practice or an herbal business, a piece of equipment like this especially if you're growing your own herbs can really save you a lot of time and money.

Speaker 1: 13:08

Your herbs can be dried and you'll know about how long it takes, right, there's not going to be issues with pests. So if you dry, if you hang dry, or even if you dry in racks, if they're not like in a septic room, right, then you're not going to be able to, you know, definitely keep out pest. You're definitely not going to always be able to get everything to dry the right way. If it's extra, you know damp outside, you know drying in a controlled environment can definitely help with that. You can always use a food dehydrator too. I actually was.

Speaker 1: 13:54

This is a kind of a funny story. So about a year, year and a half ago, I ordered a new food dehydrator for the school and for some reason it shipped to a different saved address in the cart. It was one of those carts and they seem to not do that as much anymore, but they just save every address that you've ever shipped to and for some reason it didn't go to the right address and the person who got the food dehydrator with my name right, who was a student, never ever contacted me and said hey, you just looks like a $400 piece of equipment was shipped here and so, like I, you know I was out all of that money and stuff. So I kind of have like hesitated on buying like another new food dehydrator because I'm like I've already bought one, it's just not at my house, you know. But I just thought you guys would think that was funny because, you know, sometimes when you're buying equipment you have to think about everything in a new way. And so by not getting that food dehydrator and it not working, I really started looking at other things that would be maybe more beneficial for me. So I'm not saying, oh, I'm really glad I'm out all that money because I'm not, and and I'm not, you know, I know who the person was who got it, because you know they, the company, worked with me to find out what happened to it. But you know, I was just kind of like, oh dang, you know, let me see if there's something out there that maybe is a little bit better or will work a little bit better for our setup and what we're trying to do, and so it did inspire me to look into some other options. I think the great thing is, as herbalists, we have lots of choices. We have lots of choices on how we can preserve items and save items and make items. Nobody's coming across a completely brand new idea, so there's lots of things that we can do to really expand our knowledge base.

Speaker 1: 16:04

I remember years and years ago when I wrote my first book. I had a section in it about drying herbs and I was talking about people using the microwave and like people got so mad about that, they got so angry. And now I see it as like in everyone's instructions out there that oh, you can use the microwave, blah, blah, blah. And I just thought it was so funny that people were getting so angry at me. And I just thought it was so funny that people were getting so angry at me and I actually like had that information in there for like a specific reason, because at the time the housing market was collapsing and a lot of my students were suddenly living in hotels and there was a bunch of students who were like, you know we were underwater with our house, we're losing our house.

Speaker 1: 16:48

You know I'm really sorry, I can't do my homework. We're in a, you know, one of those like apart hotels where we're there. You know you can pay by the month and you know, there what can I? You know, I'm really sorry, there's nothing I can do and and I was like, well, you deserve to have directions on how to do your homework too. So let's do this.

Speaker 1: 17:09

And it's just really funny because we always frame our experiences in our lens right, and so I think, as herbalists, it's really important that we not put everything in our lens. Sorry if I just hit the mic and my hands are going all over the place, but you know that we think about how can we bring herbalism to everyone that we serve. So that's just something that you know I like to put out there and it gets us, you know, talking and collaborating and thinking about all these different things, because it's important that we work together as a community to connect clients with herbs and herbalism and going where they are. So if someone doesn't have electricity, they're not going to buy a freeze dryer, but we can talk to them about bundle drying, hanging when you dry, drying on screens. You know setting up a section of a greenhouse, that they have a greenhouse. You know things, that there's things that we can do to connect better with our clients, and so freeze drying is just one of those other tools, tools and we can use the tool to make products for our clients and know that maybe they'll last a little bit longer. Or we can make teas and we know their self-life is going to be a little bit longer and we can really connect people with that. But the reality is is that if we're not willing to go where our clients are, then we're not going to have, we're not going to have good results. We're not going to have good connections.

Speaker 1: 18:52

So the next time you read something or you see something you know who would use this, stop take a step back and say you know what, it doesn't matter. This is a good thing for me to know. This is a good thing for me to address and talk about with my clients. Whenever I work with clients, I make sure that I give them like in their like little packet, you know, connection to food resources, connection to connections to health services in the community. I always try to like have that kind of information together in a resource list, because one of the things that I learned years ago is what you look like on the outside does not tell me if you have enough money to connect with food resources.

Speaker 1: 19:39

Also, you know, for a lot of people, going to see an herbalist, even with the initial intake, is cheaper for them than what their health insurance will charge them. So if it's something that isn't like really serious and they're looking at, you know some longer term solutions with health and wellness. But if they go to the doctor and they have a $9,000 or $15,000 deductible and they're paying $700 a month for health insurance and they have a you know whatever copay or whatever you know they've got all kinds of great language for it now and it's all some kind of way that you end up paying it may be easier for them to go and see you and to go and connect with an herbalist versus going through that whole process. I know like I have, you know I buy my insurance on the marketplace and I pay a ridiculous amount of money each month and then I still have, like I think, like a $9,000 deductible. I'm like I don't know any time in my life when I have spent that much money on healthcare. Now I'm not saying you know, I won't at some point or whatever, but what I'm saying is is it's a lot of money to have $9,000 coming out of my pocket before anybody else participates in paying. It is cheaper for me to pay for something out of my own pocket sometimes.

Speaker 1: 21:09

So sometimes you know thinking, oh well, just because they you know someone can pay to see an herbalist doesn't necessarily mean what it used to mean. Now it could be like, well, you're the more reasonable financial option, and so it's good to remember things like that when we're working with clients. So, freeze-drying herbs, working with clients, this is all connected. It is all about bringing things full circle. It is about connecting people with the care that they need and also connecting you with ways that save you time and money when push comes to shove.

Speaker 1: 21:49

You're busy. You're a herbalist, you're running an apothecary or you have a clinical practice or a products-based business. Maybe you have a family, maybe you don't, maybe you have lots of animals, maybe you don't, but these kind of tools can help you be more efficient and give back to your community in ways that are important to you and, overall, make you a better practitioner, so I'm definitely excited about all of the new freeze drying options that are out there. Options that are out there especially with, you know, not having to do you know everything be like, you know huge commercial output and expenses and stuff like that. You can definitely start small and if this is something that is, you know, becoming a value add to your business, it's definitely a smart thing to look into. And, you know, if you belong to like an herbal community or something like that, you know you guys can look into pulling your resources and buying one that you know people share or they check out from a common place.

Speaker 1: 23:00

In Switzerland they have all these gardens and they're city gardens and we had one when we lived there and it was great because you didn't have to have all the tools.

Speaker 1: 23:12

You could actually just like go and sign out different shovels or go and sign out you know chainsaws and other kinds of tools like that and you just would bring them back when you were done and your fee would pay for the upkeep and stuff like that for the garden. So there's lots of things that you can do to connect yourself with some of these beneficial tools. So hopefully this was helpful talking about freeze drying and why it can be a really great option for herbalist, and I'm really happy that I get to spend this time with you and I appreciate you listening. If you have any questions, please feel free to connect. I always love hearing from people who've listened to the podcast and if you have any questions about our programs, go and check out heartofherbscom and you can definitely always give us a call at 866-303-4372. And the 4372 spells herb, so thanks for listening and have a wonderful day.