This is a final follow-up to my experiment freeze drying with dry ice. I rate it a dismal failure. It may be theoretically possible to freeze dry foods with dry ice, but it certainly is neither convenient nor cost effective. Another way of freeze drying in the link above was to flash freeze with dry ice, then put the frozen foods on an open tray in a frost free freezer. I did that with a tray of apple slices. They are not yet at the dehydrated bendable stage after six days in the freezer. I don't know if they will ever get to a dry enough state to snap when bent. I do not rate this system as practical either, because it takes the purchase of dry ice and use of lots of freezer space for the process. The third method of freeze drying was to flash freeze with the dry ice, then put it in a vacuum chamber to draw out the moisture. Wartach astutely noticed the $15 harbor freight vacuum pump. The acrylic for the top is available from Lowes. I was planning to use a large stock pot for a chamber and a cut rubber mat for the gasket. I would still have to figure out the line to the chamber from the pump. Thanks, Rick for the reminder to be careful with dry ice. At the moment, I am so disappointed in the dry ice, I may not even proceed with the vacuum chamber experiment. Its interesting that people put processes on line that they have never tried and then do not report any results of their own experiences. I don't want to leave people with a false impression so am supplying this report. On a pleasant note, I just finished reading the biography BIRDSEYE, The Adventure of a Curious Man and I highly recommend it. Birdseye learned about flash freezing while living in Labrador and preserving food for the winter. He wondered why foods frozen in mid winter stored so much better than foods frozen in fall or spring. When he returned to the states, he used EXISTING knowledge and technology to invent a practical way to flash freeze foods and store it. Unfortunately he was ahead of his times. There was not distribution or storage available either commercially or in homes to appreciate what he had done. Never the less, food storage world round has been transformed by his success and perseverance. After succeeding in that venture, he turned to dehydration as the most practical way to preserve and distribute foods. He did not live long enough to discover that his original flash freezing was also the key to quality dehydration. Carol

Have you used any of your post-flowering harvested lemon balm? Have you liked it? If so, continue. Some folks are particular about the taste and prefer it before flowering. If you are happy, keep harvesting as long as the plant holds up/you don't have frosts in your area. The plant will get pretty ratty as the frosts come closer and so you will probably stop harvesting well before the frosts end your season. I harvest all summer from my lemon balm plants. I generally save the younger, choice leaves for tea and the older not so tasty ones for herbal tinctures. Regular clipping will keep new leaves sprouting. FataMorgana

Cranberries are one of those things that can freeze and hold up many years. Also cultivated blueberries. I have some blues my dad picked 11 years ago, and used them last year. Yes they were really bland, but still had a lot of color. Usually when these things dry out and moisture collects inside the plastic bags its due to the fact that the poly bags are not the best protection against freezer burn or drying out, as air amd moisture can pass through. If you want to have fruits last longer in the freezer, a heavier plastic and the removal of most of the air will help. Food Saver bags work great for these things too. Another option is those nice waxed boxes you see that some companies pack veggies into for freezing. Even old half gallon milk cartons work fine too. If possible, even a good freezer paper will also help, if its inside a plastic bag. Those commercial zipper plastic bags for freezers are not the best way to keep things long term. Like you said, maybe 3-4 months at most. I have many string beans left in my freezer from 2006 and they are just starting to show signs of dehydration. Not like that 5 pound box of cauliflour my dad had packed in the bottom back shelf. I pulled it out, and shook it, and heard only tiny rattle noise. Inside the sealed box was a tiny pea side green mass, and it wasn't even 1 ounce in weight. No ice, no nothing, just an almost empty box. Now THATS a dried veggie!

Generally, people only revive a thread when they find themselves in a similar situation, or have something constructive to offer. It's been 6 years, it is likely that the OP has already found an answer & has forgotten about this post. ;-) In areas where insects can destroy beans & peas, the seeds should be frozen to kill any eggs or larvae... even if the seeds will be planted the next year. The seeds need to be close to 0 F. degrees for several days to kill insects, the temperature reached in a stand-alone freezer. The ice box above a refrigerator usually does not get cold enough... if in doubt, place a thermometer in the freezer to test it. For frozen seed storage, the greatest risk is not over-drying; it is that the seed moisture will be too high, which would seriously damage (or kill) the seed when frozen. This is particularly true for large seeds such as beans & peas, which take a long time to dry. An air conditioner lowers indoor humidity, so Dlsm's suggestion about drying seed with an air conditioner has merit. Because my indoor humidity is naturally low in Winter, I can dry my seeds just by leaving them open until then. But if indoor humidity can not be controlled, desiccant is the only practical way to reduce seed moisture to the proper level. While you can re-use silica gel packs intended for other purposes, you will have no way to measure how effective they are. For this reason, I recommend the use of color changing desiccant for seed saving. (This can sometimes be found in hobby stores, where it is used for drying flowers.) Start with an amount equal in weight to the seeds being dried. If the desiccant color changes to indicate moisture saturation, repeat with fresh desiccant until the color remains unchanged. At that point, the seed should be dry enough for frozen storage, and no further drying is needed. Store the seed in a sealed container, along with a small amount of color-changing desiccant - it will add a little extra protection, and warn if humidity has penetrated the seal. Absent a way to accurately measure seed moisture, there is a good rule of thumb for testing small amounts of beans & peas for proper dryness. If you strike the seed with a hammer (wearing eye protection!) and it shatters, it is fully dry. (For a frame of reference, try this with popcorn.) If it is just crushed, flattened, or the pieces stick together, it needs further drying. It is actually difficult to over-dry seeds, unless they are exposed to a drying atmosphere for an extended period of time. One last note, regarding frozen storage. When the seeds are removed from the freezer, the container must be allowed to reach room temperature before being opened. If opened while cold, moisture will condense on the seeds, just as it will on a glass of ice water. That moisture could quickly cause the seed to either sprout or spoil. If the seeds will be used in multiple years, it is a good idea to divide them into multiple zip-lock envelopes within the sealed container... that way a single packet can be quickly removed (and the container returned to the freezer) without warming the whole container.