Maine Company on the Cutting Edge of Freeze Drying Foods

Eve's Garden in Kingfield, Maine, is freeze-drying foods for good.

When you freeze-dry food, it changes shape. There's no way you would ever guess that this is a picture of freeze-dried Bit-O-Honey candy.

It's not enough that this non-profit in Kingfield, Maine, is freeze-drying just about anything and everything. It's why they are doing it.

Yes, that's freeze-dried candy corn, ice cream, yogurt treat, cheesecake, and dill pickle chips! Mike and Kate Spardello run this operation with a licensed commercial kitchen to tackle food insecurity with regular deliveries of fresh, homemade meals to people in Franklin County who have trouble accessing quality foods.

This was pot roast for 'Labor (of Love) Day' in September. Eve's Garden provides fresh, home-cooked meals to people in Franklin County who might not be able to get one. They are made and delivered at no charge. How? They use the money they make selling their freeze-dried goodies. It's brilliant! Kate told the Daily Bulldog,

The freezer dryers are very closely aligned with our mission.

Obviously, it's fun to eat some freeze-dried candy corn, but one of the things that Kate and Mike are so proud of is that Eve's Garden has zero food waste. They use freeze dryers to preserve leftover meals that don't get delivered. And if done right, they can last up to 30 years on a shelf! It's remarkable. Freeze-dried meals are fully cooked and light because all the water has been removed. So Eve's Garden can deliver a month's worth of meals at a time if they need to.

This amazing commitment to their community makes me want to head right up to Kingfield. Kate told the Daily Bulldog,

We appreciate this community because much of the food that we are preparing was donated by community members who have asked to remain anonymous. There’s community involvement at so many levels of this organization. My favorite part of what we do … is delivering the meals and sitting down and talking to people.

Please support Eve's Garden and grab some crazy freeze-dried snacks so that they can keep helping the people of Franklin County.