Harvest Right Freeze Dryers: Revolutionizing Cannabis Preservation
Preserving food for longer without altering its taste, flavor, and color is the aim of every food handler. The choice of an appropriate harvest freeze dryer machine for this purpose is vital. Harvest right freeze dryer can potentially preserve cannabis without affecting its natural qualities. Freeze dryer for cannabis keeps the product fresh by maintaining its potency, shape, texture, color, and phytochemistry. An excellent commercial freeze dryer for cannabis can retain the nutritional profile of freeze-dried products up to 97% by auto-managing the freeze drying process.
Growers can cure the oils, herbs, medicines, fruits, vegetables, pharmaceuticals, and concentrates for years. Harvest Right large freeze dryer for cannabis is much more spacious and can hold up to 8 trays with 10.25 square foot tray space. An excellent pharmaceutical freeze dryer protects the product against water, oxygen, and heat.
The cannabis plant is rich in macronutrients, micronutrients, phytochemicals, and water, making it a critical medicinal plant in healthcare. However, the plant is stored after harvesting until the end-user has consumed it. If the plant parts are not stored under favorable conditions, the moisture present in cannabis can alter its sensory profile, including color, flavor, and texture.
There are chances for microorganisms to grow in it and deteriorate the product. In addition, oxidation of the product in the presence of air can further damage the nutritional profile and overall acceptability. Therefore, it is essential to preserve cannabis effectively.
Freeze drying is the most suitable advanced curing method to conserve cannabis for a more extended period without any hazard. Commercial freeze dryer revolutionizes cannabis preservation with the help of a progressive, efficient solution that maintains the potency, longevity, and flavor of cannabis products. Growers can preserve the bioactive ingredients of cannabis with a freeze dryer machine and use them as therapeutic agents for illnesses whenever needed.
In freeze drying, water is removed from the cannabis via a sublimation process in which ice is converted into vapors. This process does not affect the structure of the cannabis and makes the end product porous. The porous and sponge texture makes the rehydration of cannabis easy and damage-free.
The Challenge of Preserving Cannabis
Old cannabis gets moldy and gives off flavor if not stored effectively. There might be noticeable changes in potency, color, and taste of the product with time. Loss of potency and flavor can be due to certain factors like light, oxygen, humidity, temperature, and the dryer used.
Light and oxygen can deteriorate the cannabinoids and terpenes present in cannabis and hence can decrease its potency. It is witnessed that light can make the cannabis harsh upon drying. Moisture helps mold and bacteria grow inside the product, making it less nutritious by destroying its ingredients. Additionally, high temperature degrades the cannabinoids and results in loss of potency and flavor.
Cannabis can lose its potency and flavor if stored in plastic bags that are not airtight. They let the light and air pass, decreasing the product's shelf life. On the other hand, a freezer or refrigerator can cause moisture to condense on the cannabis and allow mold growth. Therefore, a commercial freeze dryer is a superior solution to enhance flavor, potency, and longevity. It gives insights into the technology, advantages, and practical guidance for users seeking to improve their cannabis preservation techniques.
The traditional methods to dry cannabis include curing and dehydration by hot air ovens, refrigerators, and commercial ovens. But, there are various concerns associated with these tools and techniques. Curing is the traditional dehydration process for cannabis, but it takes 18 to 30 days to dehydrate by this process. When we compare the harvest time freeze dryer with conventional curing, the freeze dryer takes a few hours to drain the cannabis with only 1-2% moisture left.
Dehydrated product with curing might have about 5-10% moisture, which can decrease its shelf life. Cannabis preserved with harvest freeze dryer machine are lighter in weight but possess more nutrients. As discussed earlier, refrigeration can condense moisture and put the product at risk of mold and bacterial growth.
The Technology Behind Harvest Right Freeze Dryers
Lyophilization consists of 3 basic steps: freezing, primary drying, and secondary drying. Literature, however, suggests that pretreatment is the prerequisite for the freeze-drying process. In the first step, freezing cannabis at – 400C converts all water content into ice without making water foam. Primary drying helps to sublimate the ice into vapors. After that, secondary drying removes all the residual moisture of the product without damaging its protein, lipid, and secondary metabolites.
The resulting porous and unaltered structure of cannabis hinders the degradation of the solid matrix and makes the rehydration process more convenient and damage-free. Controlled freezing and drying protocols allow the removal of maximum moisture from the cannabis buds and flowers, hence hindering the microbial degradation of the product. Otherwise, bacteria and mold growth in the frozen product destroy product integrity and alter its nutritional composition.
Harvest freeze dryer machine are popular choices for food preserves to have more lightweight dehydrated foods. Following are some key features of harvest right freeze dryers that make them ideal for cannabis preservation:
- 7X quicker than air drying
- Completely automatic
- Optimized for herbs and extracts
- Large batch capacities
- Stainless steel construction
- Ideal drying temperature
How to Use Harvest Right Freeze Dryers for Cannabis
There are the 3 types of freeze dryers available in market:
- Harvest right small freeze dryer
- Harvest right medium freeze dryer
- Harvest right xl freeze dryer
These are the most suitable tools to purchase if cannabis growers want to preserve cannabis. It will provide superior-quality products that cannabis growers can use for months or even years. However, it would help to focus on harvest right freeze dryer problems while preserving the food. Following are tips to be considered while dehydrating cannabis:
- Always use a quality harvest freeze dryer machine for this purpose, and ask about protocols for using harvest freeze dryer for cannabis (as different food products have other critical limits for preservation).
- Carefully set the temperature of freeze dryer harvest right (a low temperature below 750C could be suitable for cannabis), as the high temperature can damage the structure of cannabinoids and other phytochemicals.
- After freeze drying cannabis, remove them from the harvest freeze dryer machine and put them into a suitable container or bag. Polybags could be the best option if growers want to preserve the cannabis for months, but cans can store ther product for up to years.
- Take the recommended time to freeze dry the product, and don't rush. Hustle can damage the product in many ways. It can let the moisture inside the product and make it vulnerable to mold growth. In addition, more heat to hurry up the drying process can deteriorate the product's texture.
Harvest Right freeze dryer store could help growers to save cannabis at home as well as at the commercial level. Its high-quality construction, and easy-to-run features allow to get dried flowers longer. In this way, cannabis growers can save their money and preserve freshness.
Future Trends in Cannabis Preservation
Lyophilization is used in various industries, including food, pharmaceuticals, fabric, and biotechnology. The legalization of the cannabis plants and their potential use in the medicinal industry has increased the importance of freeze drying as the most appropriate option to preserve this magical plant. Commercial harvest right freeze dryers are in demand nowadays because of their unique features and easy-to-handle protocols.
Below are some insights into how freeze drying technology might evolve to benefit the cannabis industry further:
- Improved quality control: Sophisticated quality control measures like real-time monitoring of critical control points (temperature, pH, or pressure) during the process to ensure top-quality end product.
- Customization for cannabis varieties: The cannabis industry is working on using different cannabis varieties with versatile phytochemical profiles. Likewise, customized freeze drying technology has been introduced to cater to different cannabis varieties.
- Efficiency and speed: Future advancements might improve the efficiency and speed of the drying process to minimize cycle times.
- Integration with extraction processes: With the encroachment of cannabis extraction methods, the integration of extraction techniques and freeze drying technology has also been developed.
- Compliance with regulatory standards: As the cannabis industry is growing fast, there must be a need to align with and adapt to evolving regulatory standards. Forisods to ensure compliance with specific quality and safety requirements could be very beneficial.
Improvement areas include energy efficiency, customization, quality control, packaging, and adherence to regulatory standards.
Potential Future Innovations from Harvest Right
Harvest right freeze dryers are primarily known for their utilization in preserving food, herbs, and other organic products. However, they have focused on potential future innovations and adaptations applicable to cannabis preservation via freeze drying technology.
Following are some future innovations from Harvest Right:
- Customized cannabis dried cycles
- Integrated monitoring and control systems
- Automated quality control measures / remote monitoring and control
- Multistage drying methods
- Preservation of specific cannabinoids and terpenes
- Energy-efficient design
- Compliance with regulations
All these adaptations are just speculative ideas and may vary from the actual developments.
The Bottom Line
With the legalization of cannabis as a medicinal plant, the importance of its preservation methods has increased significantly. There are various conventional drying methods for cannabis, like curing and refrigeration. However, these old methods are not suitable to preserve the nutritional composition and sensory attributes of cannabis followers. The end product might be vulnerable to oxidative damage and microbial attack.
Freeze drying is the innovation in preserving cannabis for a more extended period without altering its cannabinoid composition, taste, and flavor. Harvest right freeze dryers are the game-changing solution for cannabis preservation. Harvest freeze dryers provide advanced and efficient solutions to conserve cannabis by maintaining its potency, taste, and flavor.
