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Frozen Drying: Discover the new revolution in drying
Reading time ⌛ 4 min
Today we're going to talk about a revolutionary new drying method:Freeze Drying.
Like new concentrates such as CRD or Rosin, a 100% natural extraction method, Freeze Drying is a recent innovation. We won't hide it, we've truly fallen in love with this technique. Want to know why? Read on, we'll explain!
What is Freeze Drying? How does it work?
This technique is a version of freeze-drying developed in the United States specifically for hemp and cannabis flowers. It involves drying flowers that have been cryogenically frozen. Here's how it works:
Step 1: Freezing
The hemp flowers are hand-picked and placed directly into a freezing chamber. Carefully arranged, they are exposed to temperatures set between -30 and -35 degrees for approximately 10 hours.
This freezing process is ultra-fast, which has the effect of freezing the water inside the flower while preserving its shape and integrity.
Step 2: Vacuum pressure and sublimation
Once the water inside the flowers is frozen, the pressure inside the chamber drops rapidly. A vacuum is created, which initiates the sublimation process.
This process refers to the transition of a substance directly from a solid to a gaseous state without passing through a liquid stage. The ice inside the flowers is therefore converted into vapor without becoming water in the meantime.
Step 3: Steam extraction
Then, the steam in the tank makes the reverse journey, it condenses and refreezes in a compartment designed for this purpose.
Of course, this ice also contains a tiny fraction of terpenes that were carried away by the vapor during sublimation. These are recovered at the end of the process to be reused in e-liquids or oils.
The entire process takes 24 hours. Just one day later, the moisture is extracted from the flowers and they are ready to be consumed.
What are the advantages of Frozen Drying?
The process is very quick and quite spectacular in itself. But the appeal isn't just the beauty of the gesture: the result is simply incredible. Everything changes for the better: the appearance, the taste, the smell, the texture, and even the potency!
The appearance of Frozen Drying CBD flowers
The flowers, frozen and dried directly after picking, retain their vibrant appearance of a bright green and are covered with a magnificent coat of shimmering trichomes.
But there's more: they're slightly puffy, as light as a feather. In other words, they offer a large volume for very little weight. With just 1 gram, you feel like you're seeing 4!
Texture, taste and smell of frozen dried flowers
As mentioned earlier, the flowers are slightly swollen; the vacuum created during the process gives them a cottony texture, and they contain just the right amount of moisture to hold their shape and provide the best possible consumption experience. They crumble easily with a simple press between two fingers.
According to some reviews, this perfect humidity level makes vaporization lighter and all the more pleasant.
In terms of taste and aroma, it's an experience no other flower can offer, one that can only be found in the Ice-o-lator : the experience of consuming fresh flowers. The fact that they were dried while frozen preserves an immaculate terpene profile, including terpenes that are normally lost during drying.
The power
Let's talk about what interests many of us: potency. As you might have guessed, a much larger portion of the original cannabinoids and terpenes is preserved, increasing the final potency. During the drying process, some terpenes and cannabinoids oxidize and are lost, which reduces the final potency. Thanks to freeze drying, all the basic compounds are fully preserved, just like in a living flower.
History of Frozen Weed
According to our research, the story of Frozen Weed began with Ed Rosenthal, one of the iconic figures of the cannabis movement in the United States.
In the 1970s and 80s, he had the idea that freeze-drying, a technique conventionally used in the food industry, could be used to reduce the moisture content of flowers. This technique preserves flowers longer and reduces the risk of fungal growth. However, the technique is not without its drawbacks. One problem is that freeze-drying is quite aggressive, making the flowers very fragile and brittle.
Based on this observation, two other Americans, Greg Baughman and Tracee McAfee, set to work developing the technique to adapt it for drying flowers. By adapting containers to the size of the buds and adjusting the drying process to achieve the optimal humidity level for the plants, their technology revolutionized flower drying and led to a completely new product. The product then spread to American dispensaries, much to the delight of consumers.
Conclusion
With the gradual legalization of hemp worldwide, research and discussion can now proceed freely. Extraction, cultivation, drying, and curing techniques are constantly evolving, leading to increasingly innovative new products. These more plant-friendly processes result in unique consumption experiences. We're still waiting for a moonrock to be made from these flowers, and we'll be sure to keep you updated!
Cryogenic drying is still in its early stages, but its popularity is growing rapidly, and we believe this technology has a very bright future. That's why we're so proud to offer you one of the first flowers of this type available in France, and we hope you'll love it as much as we do. And if you do, keep following the latest CBD news on our blog!
