History of freeze drying process

The method can be trace back to prehistoric times and was used by the Aztecs and Eskimo for preserving foodstuffs. The Peruvian Incas who lived in the high altitudes of the Andes also known the basic of freeze drying food. The Incas stored some of their food crops, including potatoes, on the mountain heights.

Toward the end of the 1880s the process was used in laboratory scale and the basic principles understood at that time.

Freeze drying was first carried out by Altmann, who freeze-dried organ pieces in 1890. In 1932, Gersh designed an effective vacuum plant for freeze drying of histological preparations.

One of the experimenters with freeze drying food was American inventory George Speri Sperti of the St. Thomas Institute for Advanced Studies.

During World War II, freeze drying was for the preservation of biological samples such plasma It was used for preserving biological specimens in Sweden in the 1930s and for human blood in World War II.

Soon afterwards freeze drying was applied to foods and gained momentum in the food industry starting in the 1950’s.

In 1964, Nestle developed an improved method of producing instant coffee by freeze drying. Today, several other coffee producers use similar process of preservation.

Freeze drying or lyophilization is a drying process, in which the solvent and /or the medium of suspension is crystallized at low temperature and thereafter sublimated from the solid state directly into the vapor phase.
History of freeze drying process