Freeze-dried nation

Is it just me? Or has there been a resurgence of the popularity in freeze-dried foods? What brought this to mind were the delicious freeze-dried strawberries Ty brought home from Trader Joe’s when he was crashed out on our couch. Also, at our local market down the street, I’ve noticed some Petaluma-based food corporation making their own freeze-dried fruit snacks.

So when I went to Trader Joe’s today over my lunch hour, I bought some of the aforementioned strawberries, as well as some mangoes. They are a tasty-tangy-sweet-crunchy snack. A snack made of flavored air.

Maybe it was just us folks of a certain generation, but I remember being fascinated with Astronaut Ice Cream as a kid. Freeze-dried ice cream – the concept still boggles my mind. Does anyone else remember that? Seems to me it was a fad to buy it (as civilians) sometime around the early ‘80s. I can recall begging my mom to get it for us. And I still remember the weird airy-sweet taste of each of the flavors (vanilla – strawberry – chocolate).

Ahh . . . the reminiscences of youth . . .