I'm looking for the same. Did you (or anyone else) have any luck searching for solutions?
I have two thoughts, neither of which are true freeze drying but I think might work to preserve flavor better than traditional oven/fan drying.
1:
Mild heating under vacuum. Most people never dabble in such things, but vacuum pumps and heating by light and/or hotplate allows you to achieve the same result as traditional dehydrators at lower temperatures. Neither are particularly expensive. I am NOT sure about the killing of pathogens often talked about here at above 165, but it stands to reason that (much like sous vide) longer times at lower temperatures could also be effective.
2:
Dry ice - the poor mans freeze dry. Dry ice is used commercially/industrially for a lot of applications like this, and I think (if it works well. doesn't alter the flavor unpleasantly, and doesn't wick too much of the oils we are trying to save) it could be a good option. The basic setup is a lot like a pipe bomb but without the sealed end cap. Inside the pipe you would have one or more levels of meshing/grills that hold the fruit to be dried and a sufficient cache of dry ice placed in the very bottom. The bottom of the pipe would have a fully sealed end cap, and the top end cap would have some amount of holes in it. As the dry ice sublimates, the super cool CO2 wicks away moisture as it travels upwards, and "makeshift freezedries" the fruit. The ideal amount of dry ice per fruit, the amount of venting in the top cap, as well as the best thickness and material of pipe are all big question marks - but this process might work and achieve superior results to the traditional heater and fan dehydrators. It should go without saying, but there is some danger (the cold of dry ice alone, and the pressures involved in sealing / partially sealing sublimating dry ice inside a pipe) involved in this approach, and not to be attempted lightly or without adequate safety precautions.
