A food trend spreading on TikTok and Instagram in Israel and worldwide is turning familiar fruits and vegetables into crunchy snacks. The products are freeze-dried, a process that quickly freezes fresh produce and then dries it under vacuum, removing the water while preserving the original shape and creating a light, airy texture.
The technique was refined by NASA in the 1960s for the Apollo program, when engineers needed nutritious food for astronauts that would be far lighter than regular meals and would not require heavy refrigeration. Freeze-drying cut the weight of food by about 80 percent, helped preserve vitamins and minerals, prevented bacteria growth, and kept meals usable for months in extreme space conditions.
Today, the trend includes strawberries, mango, banana, pineapple, peach, kiwi and passion fruit, as well as surprising vegetable hits such as mushrooms, okra, green beans and snow peas, which are often hard to find because demand is so high. The appeal is that the food keeps its natural taste in a concentrated, crisp form. Nutritionally, freeze-drying is one of the best preservation methods, retaining about 99 percent of the original vitamins and minerals, but consumers should watch for concentrated sugar and added sugar in some products.
A tasting at the Sunflower chain branch on Nahalat Binyamin included wasabi peas, green beans, passion fruit, two kinds of kiwi, strawberry, pineapple, mango, potato chips and peach. The verdict was that the snack is tasty, unusual and addictive, with a strong crunch and intensified flavor. Prices are the main drawback, with vegetables sold for about 17 shekels per 100 grams and fruits for about 19.90 shekels per 100 grams. The piece concludes that the snack fits modern lifestyles, but does not replace fresh produce and its essential moisture.
