Up next in 10
I Asked a Freeze-Drying Expert What Actually Makes Money
157 views
May 15, 2025
Ever wondered what you could actually freeze-dry and sell? In this interview with freeze-drying expert Gene Ligman, we discuss the most profitable applications that could jumpstart your business in freeze-drying! Gene walks through everything from the booming pet treat market (60% of all freeze-dried products!) to the fascinating world of human foods, supplements, and even unusual applications you never would have imagined. As someone exploring this industry myself, I was blown away by the endless possibilities—and now I'm sharing them all with you! This interview completely changed my perspective on what's possible with freeze-drying, and I know it'll do the same for you! If you enjoy this video, don't miss my other conversations with Gene where we dive into equipment selection, scaling your business, and perfecting your freeze-drying recipes. Here's the other videos to watch: Freeze-Drying Recipes - https://youtu.be/s7U9nLbR7Sc?si=_xXuGe0cO_0E1Gut Drop a comment letting me know which freeze-drying application surprised you the most! #FreezeDrying #SmallBusiness #FoodPreservation #Entrepreneurship Connect with Gene Ligman at SunTorr https://www.suntorr.com/ Phone: (502) 232-6183 Email: [email protected] Purchase your ticket for the largest, most informative freeze-drying event happening at the stunning Hotel Renegade in beautiful Boise! 🚨 Register now: https://freezedriedsummit.com. The event is September 22-23 in Boise, Idaho. This game-changing summit brings together industry experts ready to transform your business with actionable strategies for operations and leadership success.
View Video Transcript
0:00
if you want to start a business with a
0:01
freeze dryer what types of things can
0:02
you freeze dry how do you know what to
0:04
freeze dry and how do you know if it's
0:06
going to work today you're going to get
0:07
those questions answered through an
0:09
interview that I had with one of the
0:10
freeze drying experts in an industry and
0:12
yes there are experts in freeze drying
0:15
his name is Gene Ligman gan is widely
0:17
known as a freeze drying expert helping
0:19
freeze drying businesses know exactly
0:21
what they should freeze dry how they
0:22
should go about setting up their
0:23
facility because it's not just about the
0:25
freeze jar it's about creating a recipe
0:28
it's about creating a facility that can
0:30
really harness the power of the freeze
0:32
drying process and eventually actually
0:34
make you money and so this particular
0:36
snippet of my full interview with Gan is
0:38
going to talk about what applications
0:39
are there in freeze drying where you can
0:41
start a business what types of things
0:43
has you seen work well what types of
0:45
things are happening right now that are
0:47
very unique what types of things do you
0:49
need to think about if you're going to
0:50
look at applications like powderizing
0:52
something creating supplements
0:54
pharmaceuticals cosmetics all of this is
0:57
going to be discussed in this interview
0:58
this is an education type of video so
1:00
it's not going to have any type of music
1:02
sound effects any type of B-roll that
1:04
keep you engaged this is more for you to
1:07
better understand what freeze drying is
1:09
if you're interested in doing that from
1:12
someone who actually knows what they're
1:13
talking about so let's get to the
1:15
interview with Gan and learn about the
1:16
applications in freeze drying now you've
1:18
seen a lot of different things freeze
1:20
dry what are the most common
1:22
applications in freeze drying to that
1:24
people are selling product with right
1:26
now pet treats is probably the number
1:28
one freeze-dried product seller the
1:31
quantity of freeze drying that's going
1:34
on in America is probably at least 60%
1:36
pet treats the second one is fruits um
1:42
probably fruits and that's because you
1:45
know if you eat that cereal and it's got
1:47
that little chunk of dried fruit in
1:48
there that's freeze-dried fruit mhm
1:51
every chunk of fruit that's in the
1:53
breakfast cereal on the on the shelf is
1:55
all freeze-dried so there's a lot of
1:57
that if you're eating soups like an
1:59
instant soup that's got some kind of
2:01
protein in it or even some of the the
2:03
soup itself is is probably
2:05
freeze-dried
2:08
there's so freeze-dried food for human
2:11
consumption is probably the next is is
2:14
by and far the the largest sector i
2:17
would say probably you built you break
2:19
that into two chunks one is fruits and
2:22
vegetables and the other one's proteins
2:25
and I think it's probably fairly even i
2:27
think maybe fruits and vegetables a
2:28
little bit bigger than proteins so when
2:30
I be buy my beef bullion or chicken
2:32
bullion cubes is that a is are those
2:34
cubes freeze dried no they're probably
2:36
spray dried what does that mean spray
2:38
dried is where you uh you create a
2:41
liquid slurry and you get a really high
2:43
temperature and you spray it into a a
2:46
chamber that's got hot air blowing
2:48
around and it by the time it gets from
2:50
the nozzle to the bottom of the chamber
2:52
it's been dried oh but because you're
2:54
creating such small particles so if you
2:57
don't have a temperature limit and
3:00
bullion doesn't because you're going to
3:01
put in boiling water anyway then you're
3:03
probably going to spray dry it mhm now
3:05
going back to the pets freeze-dried pets
3:08
food right now you said pet treats but
3:11
also is is food being freeze-dried for I
3:14
mean I would assume like the treat is
3:16
for you know Yeah like very quick
3:19
consumption for the dog or the cat
3:21
whatever but what about freeze drying
3:23
actual food yeah so there's a movement
3:26
that started a number of years ago about
3:29
free feeding your dogs raw meat because
3:32
dogs evolved to eat raw meat and there's
3:35
a certain kind of nutrient content
3:36
that's in raw meat that changes when you
3:38
cook it and that changes the nutrient
3:40
content for the for the pet and there's
3:44
plenty of anecdotal evidence i don't
3:46
know if it's done i don't think there's
3:47
any clinical trials but there's lots and
3:49
lots of people who have seen pets like
3:51
miraculously recover from diseases and
3:53
whatnot when they started feeding them
3:54
raw food there's plenty of information
3:56
online you can find well there's two
3:59
ways to get raw raw food for your dog
4:04
and if you have a bunch of dogs um it
4:06
becomes a real problem one is frozen
4:08
right so you go you buy frozen meat and
4:11
you thaw it out and give it to your dog
4:14
so this has the burden of you're
4:16
shipping heavy stuff you're shipping it
4:19
frozen so it has to be done in a refer
4:21
and then you have to buy it frozen you
4:23
have to get it back to your place while
4:24
it's still frozen and you have to put it
4:26
in a freezer and store it still frozen
4:28
and then when you want to feed it to
4:29
your dog you have to spend the time
4:30
thawing it out and not cook it because
4:33
that would destroy the entire pro
4:35
purpose of buying it raw in the first
4:37
place right so an alternative is you
4:40
freeze dry it while it's raw and then
4:42
all you have to do to re to feed it to
4:44
your pet is either feed it to him dry
4:45
because a dog is going to eat a
4:48
freeze-dried cube of beef just the same
4:50
as if it's reconstituted or you can
4:53
throw it in a um a little bit of hot
4:55
water for a minute or however long it
4:57
takes for to for it to reconstitute and
5:00
by the way high quality freeze-dried
5:03
meat should reconstitute fairly quickly
5:05
like in a minute whereas meat that's
5:07
been subjected to higher temperatures
5:09
maybe during the freeze-drying process
5:10
and rendered some fats out might take a
5:13
lot longer or might not ever fully
5:15
reconstitute for a dog it might still be
5:17
chewy but now because it's freeze-dried
5:20
you don't have to ship the weight you
5:22
don't have to do it in a reefer you
5:24
don't have to go to the store and buy it
5:26
frozen and then get it back to your
5:27
house and store it in the freezer until
5:28
it's frozen you don't have to thaw it
5:29
out all you have to do is throw it in
5:30
some water or just toss a chunk to your
5:32
dog who's going to like inhale it anyway
5:34
yeah now what other animal food animals
5:39
and food is being freeze- dried besides
5:42
like cat and dog mostly it's proteins so
5:44
it's for cats and dogs and iguanas and
5:46
whatnot right um pets that are going to
5:49
be eating proteins now a lot of these
5:52
companies they'll make a they'll grind
5:54
up a a their own um actual ingredient
5:58
recipe whether put some liver they'll
6:00
put some fish to add the omega-3s
6:03
they'll put vegetables in to add
6:04
nutrients of various types they'll grind
6:06
it all up into a mash and then they'll
6:09
extrude it in pellets or patties and
6:12
freeze dry it that way like Stella and
6:13
Chewies for example is a company that
6:15
does it that way many of them do so
6:18
they're actually creating a balanced
6:20
diet in a patty for your pet um and it
6:25
could be for whatever animal they'll
6:27
they'll there are different recipes for
6:29
different animals so what are the
6:30
applications with no food for freeze
6:33
drying so anytime you want to powder a
6:36
an organic product by organic I mean
6:38
something that that you would harvest
6:41
and um and grind into some kind of
6:44
powder and when it's growing it's going
6:46
to be wet now you can either let it dry
6:48
in the sun before you grind it you can
6:51
do spray drying you can do a number of
6:53
different types of drying but every one
6:55
of those processes has their pluses and
6:58
minuses spray drying is fast but it's in
7:01
hot air and it oxidizes and it changes
7:03
and it cooks and everything else like
7:05
that um so but uh like cosmetics
7:09
anything that needs to be a a powdered
7:11
ingredient um this is actually a quickly
7:14
growing market like aloe vera powdered
7:17
aloe vera um neutrauticals is another
7:21
one where people want to retain
7:24
the live cultures in something like a
7:28
yogurt or some kind of specifically
7:31
cultured
7:33
um neutrutical recipe they want to keep
7:36
those cultures alive you can't cook it
7:38
right so you you're very limited in how
7:40
you can dry it so drying it under vacuum
7:44
means that you're drying it while it's
7:45
really cold and then you retain those
7:47
things the strangest things that I've
7:49
heard of freeze drying are whole pets
7:51
right where people want they they're
7:53
just they they love this pet they want
7:55
to like put it in a case and like look
7:57
at it for a long time it's like a
7:58
different form of taxiderermy i don't
8:00
know I wouldn't do that to my pet but
8:01
people will do that so whole pet that's
8:04
that's something um now speaking of
8:07
taxiderermy I mean humans die as well so
8:10
if you were going to freeze dry a body
8:12
part what would you freeze dry well I
8:15
have heard of placentas being
8:17
freeze-dried so that people can cuz some
8:19
women uh want to consume their placenta
8:22
to get that nutrient content back into
8:24
their body culturalware awareness in
8:26
certain cultures this is a thing so well
8:28
how do you preserve a
8:30
placenta long enough to consume it over
8:33
time one way is to freeze dry it because
8:35
the the nutrient content will be
8:37
retained there's a guy in Idaho who uh
8:42
is freeze drying a certain product that
8:43
he's going to be bringing to market it's
8:45
grown in certain areas of the of the
8:47
world and he wanted to test to see what
8:50
the nutrient content uh retention is
8:52
because he's tried all different methods
8:54
of drying air drying spray drying
8:56
grinding sunlight all all of it and and
8:59
there's all a a serious degradation of
9:01
the nutrient content and he just got his
9:04
results back from he had it sent to the
9:06
University of Utah for um nutrient
9:08
content analysis and it he said it was
9:10
outstanding as in greater than 90 98%
9:13
nutrient content retention wow so that's
9:17
one of the reasons why you would want to
9:20
spray or freeze dry as opposed to spray
9:23
dry or air dry something that's going to
9:24
go into a neutrautical because the whole
9:26
point is to consume that nutrient
9:30
content or for like a placenta placenta
9:32
is kind of a strange yeah I've heard
9:35
people freeze drying plasma yeah that
9:37
makes sense uh freeze drying is widely
9:40
used in the medical industries so
9:42
medical freezering which is is called by
9:44
a different name it's called
9:45
liophilization has been used for many
9:48
decades in fact the probably the number
9:51
one user of freeze dryers in the world
9:52
is medical applications almost every
9:55
vaccine
9:56
um many many medicines are are
9:59
freeze-dried at some point and also uh
10:02
the the detectors so when we were all at
10:05
home doing our our our home tests for
10:08
COVID all those little sensor strips
10:10
that are in those uh testing kits those
10:13
are all freeze-dried at one point why is
10:15
that i don't know um it has something to
10:18
do with preserving the
10:20
chemical the integrity of the chemicals
10:22
involved um but they didn't share the
10:25
information as to why they're freeze
10:26
drying it but just that they are so
10:28
there's there's company in in Utah that
10:31
has many many freeze dryers that that's
10:32
all they do is just these detector
10:34
sensing strips and that's all
10:37
because the chemicals that are on that
10:40
strip that then would give you a blue or
10:43
double blue line uh it needs to those
10:46
chemicals need to be preserved otherwise
10:48
they would like react they would react
10:52
and expire yeah yeah so there's this
10:55
rule of thumb in in chemistry that if
10:57
you raise the temperature of your
10:59
chemical reaction by 10° C the reaction
11:02
rate will double so if you go from 0
11:04
degrees to 10° you've doubled your
11:06
reaction rate if you go from 10° to 20°
11:08
you've doubled it again so uh when if
11:11
you're drying it at say uh 100° C you
11:15
can have a very very fast reaction rate
11:18
and that can destroy lots of things so
11:20
the lower temperature you do it at and
11:22
minus40 degrees C is pretty low you can
11:25
actually preserve things you can stop
11:26
the chemical reactions from happening
11:28
yeah I mean not stop but you can slow
11:30
them down to the point where it's
11:32
negligible this is just a small snippet
11:33
of my full-on conversation with Gan it's
11:36
over an hour long so I broke it up into
11:38
different parts so if you want to check
11:39
out more parts and different topics to
11:41
learn more about freeze drying check out
11:42
the video description below i've got
11:44
links to those different sections now
11:46
videos are all well and good but if you
11:48
want to be more connected in person with
11:50
people who are in the freezering space
11:52
right now as entrepreneurs and business
11:54
owners but also people like Gan who are
11:56
experts who want to help you you can
11:58
attend the freezedried summit in 2025 in
12:01
Boisee Idaho this is an event that I'm
12:03
personally hosting through this channel
12:05
i've connected all different types of
12:07
entrepreneurs and suppliers who can help
12:09
equip you to start a freeze drying
12:11
business but also to grow your existing
12:14
one through different methods and
12:16
equipment that could really help advance
12:18
your freeze-drying business so if you're
12:19
interested go to freeze-driedsummit.com
12:22
the link below is in the video
12:23
description and if you're watching this
12:25
after 2025 still go to freeze-dried
12:28
summit because that is going to show you
12:29
other freeze drying events that will
12:31
happen in the future all right the
12:32
thumbnails coming up next all feature
12:34
things related to Jean and our interview
12:36
so check those out i'll see you there
12:42
[Music]
#Business Formation
#Pet Food & Pet Care Supplies
#Small Business