Can you Freeze Dried Kale? Pondering about adding more leafy green vegetables into your diet by including freeze-dried veggies? A great way to do this is by incorporating freeze-dried kale. Using kale powder is a convenient way to get everyone at home to consume kale as well.
Kale is a superfood loved by most adults, especially because it offers many health benefits, but it is dreaded by little ones. With freeze-dried kale, you can easily add it to your power shakes, and it also makes a wonderful addition to soup and a variety of recipes.
Kale contains an abundance of the special compounds called glucosinolates, making headlines for their powerful detoxification properties and ability to support healthy cells. When freeze-dried, kale powder also retains most of its nutrients. Learn more about freeze-dried kale and how you, too, can enjoy its many benefits.
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Freeze Dried Kale
Kale is one of the easiest veggies to freeze dry. Follow a few simple steps:
- Take the bag of kale you bought from the grocery and place it in the freezer.
- Allow it to freeze completely until totally dry.
- Once completely frozen, poke a few holes on one side of the bag and smash it all over to crush it into pieces.
- Place your kale pieces on a tray.
- You can either keep or remove the stems
- Transfer the kale to a food processor and turn it into powder; alternatively, whirl it up in a coffee grinder.
- Store it in an air-tight container
- Now you can add your kale into smoothies and other meals
Where to buy freeze-dried kale
Organic Freeze-dried, Whole-Leaf Kale Powder
Features
- Organic
- Freeze-Dried
- Whole Kale Leaf Powder
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Organic kale powder starts as the USA-grown, fresh, whole kale leaves. They are immediately frozen after harvest then dried through a cold freeze-drying process. As the final step, they are ground to a fine powder and packaged.
BioTree Labs Freeze-Dried Kale
Features:
- No Preservatives
- No Sulfites
- Kosher Certified
- GMO-Free
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These diced crunchy frozen, dried vegetable snacks contain 100% kale: no Sugar Added, No Preservatives, No Sulfites, Kosher Certified, GMO-Free.
They are a great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and Calcium, too, making them the perfect addition to your meal or as a stand-alone snack.
Pure Synergy Kale
Features:
- Non-GMO
- Vegan
- Allergen-Free
- Kosher
- No Added Fillers, Preservatives, Sweeteners
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Vibrant, fresh-tasting, certified organic pure veggie powder with great versatility. Use it in smoothies, sauces, or on its own.
Supports healthy liver function and detoxification, eye and skin health, and much more
A cruciferous powerhouse for supporting healthy cells and DNA. Fresh freeze-dried and cold-milled for maximum glucosinolate and nutrient retention.
Eclectic Institute Raw Fresh Freeze-Dried Kale
Features:
- Organic
- Freeze-dried kale
- No fillers, no sugar or sweeteners, and no preservatives
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Fresh freeze-dried Kale powder with absolutely nothing added – no fillers, no sugar or sweeteners, and preservatives.
USDA certified organic Oregon-grown Kale is harvested at peak potency and fresh freeze-dried in-house.
All you need to do is fill a container with 8 oz water or juice. Add two teaspoons of powder and shake well. Drink and enjoy one to three times per day.
Freeze-Dried, Diced Kale
Features:
- Gluten-free
- No added sugars or oils
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Enjoy freeze-dried, chopped kale from swing by the handful, blended in a smoothie or mixed into dips & spreads. swiig’s Freeze-Dried Kale is nutrient-dense and packed with great taste.
It offers a great source of vitamin C & B6, 0g saturated fat, and trans fat per serving. 0mg Cholesterol per serving.
Common Questions About Freeze Dried Kale
Can kale be freeze-dried?
You bet it can, and it is actually a great idea to preserve this iron-rich superfood. This leafy green is so packed with nutrients that they are difficult to get anywhere else from a single food source.
Why would you want to freeze dry kale?
Freeze drying makes it possible for you to prolong the life of your favorite leafy greens while simultaneously turning them into delicious snack food. Even better if you have leftover kale from your home garden, freeze-drying lets you use every last bit of your harvest. This way, you’ll be able to enjoy the taste and health benefits of garden-fresh greens all year long.
Is freeze-dried kale healthy?
The biggest pro of using freeze-dried powder is the nutrient level. A Freeze-dried kale leaf looks just like a fresh kale leaf and nutritionally is as close as you can get.
Is kale powder as good as fresh kale?
The taste of kale powder is very close to fresh kale, so if you are using it in a green smoothie, it is just as easy to flavor over as fresh kale.
In fact, weight for weight, kale powder is a better source of many nutrients than fresh kale because removing water during the dehydration process concentrates what’s left, essentially jamming more fiber and air-resistant nutrients and phytochemicals into a smaller space.
What is the difference between air-dried and freeze-dried kale powders?
Here we are talking about two different methods of drying and preserving food.
Freeze-drying is much more expensive than air-drying. Freeze-drying is a slow process that typically takes 2-3 days per batch. While air-drying is a very low-cost way of drying kale, the powder is much cheaper for you to purchase.
It is also important to notice that with air-dried powder, many of the nutrients of kale are degraded. Put a leaf of kale on your counter for a few hours at room temperature, and it will go limp and wilt. Put it in a dehydrator at a much higher temperature for a few hours, and it will shrivel up like a raisin. Water and many soluble nutrients also leech out during the air-drying process. Air-drying typically makes the taste of the powder more pungent.
How to make freeze-dried kale chips at home?
Freeze-dried kale with a spritz of olive oil and some seasonings makes a perfect, healthy chip.
- Toss the greens with sea salt and olive oil and freeze dry
- Then place in a gallon Ziplock bag
- Add nutritional yeast and give the bag a gentle shake.
Can freeze-dried kale be hydrated?
Kale can also be re-hydrated by tossing them in your favorite soup or casserole. Or, with just a spritz of water from a squirt bottle, they can be tossed with berries and nuts to make a perfect salad.
What aspects of quality kale powder should you consider?
Color
Fresh kale leaves are dark green in color due to the high amounts of chlorophyll. A high-quality kale powder should be vibrant green in color, signaling that the chlorophyll molecule has not been broken down through the drying process. A powder that is pale in color has either been diluted with a filler or has been dried in a way that has broken down the chlorophyll molecule, in which case many of the other nutrients will have also been degraded.
Density
Fresh kale leaves are light and fluffy. A high-quality kale powder should also be light and fluffy. If the powder is dense and heavy, either a dense filler has been added to the powder, or the kale has been dried in a way that has broken down the cellular structure of the leaf, in which case many of the nutrients will have also been destroyed.
Taste and smell
While kale is not the most pleasant taste to most people, if your powder doesn’t taste like kale, it has either had a filler added to it to dilute the taste, or the flavor molecules have been broken down through the drying process, in which case so have many of the other nutrients. A high-quality powder should look, smell, and taste like kale.
Other things to consider
When evaluating the quality of a powder, it is important to understand how and where the product was grown. Was it grown in good-quality soil, or was it grown in highly polluted areas?
