How To Make Freeze Dried Candy

You may have seen this new candy trend lately and wondered how do they do that? Well I’ve got you covered, from what freeze drying is, where it came from and how I has grown in popularity, let’s take in dive into one of the most trending candies.

What is Freeze-drying?

Freeze-drying originated in Paris, France at the College de France, by the inventor, Jacques-Arsene d’Arsonoval. It became hugely successful during WWII, with its ability to create shelf-stable products that lasts for years. This process starts by first freezing a product and lowering its surrounding pressure inside a special machine designed to remove any ice formed through freezing, and instead convert the ice into a gas, a process scientists would call sublimation. Freeze-drying is different than traditional dehydrating as most traditional dehydration methods remove the water through heat, either out in the open or at home with a dehydrating machine. Some freeze-dried foods you may have seen would be dehydrated eggs in survival containers or pre-made meals in pouches, often found at REI or Walmart. With just some hot water, these meals transform back to its original form, not only tasting great but also keeping most if not all of its original texture, flavor, and its nutritional content. Nowadays, freeze-frying has reached an audience away from survivalists and into a new market of consumers, where people are experimenting with candy.

What is Freeze-Dried Candy?

Anyone remember space ice cream? That was one novelty freeze-dried product that was actually made with real ice cream, and if you ever tried it, you would know that it wasn’t very good Nowadays, freeze-drying skips the novelty and has found products that aren’t just cool, they are tasty.

What is the best freeze-dried candy?

Freeze-dried candies like skittles, gummy bears, and chocolate, are among some of the most popular freeze-dried candies, but these options are just the tip of the iceberg and people are experimenting with any candies they can find. Here is one youtuber doing just that, in this video he shows how he makes freeze-dried sour skittles.

Photo credit

How can I make freeze dried candy?

It’s no secret, in order to make freeze-dried candy the best way would be to get yourself a freeze-dryer. There are other ways of freeze-drying candy that involves just your typical home freezer and another one where you can use dry ice and a freezer that are more budget friendly than purchasing a freeze-dryer, so let’s go over all of our options and you can decide which way you’d like to try out.

With a Freeze Dryer:

First you’ll need to set up your machine, in this case, we’re going to go over Harvest right’s home freeze-dryer and go through it’s settings. Luckily, there is a candy option pre-made in the machine!

1. Set your freeze dryer up and press the candy mode option.
2. Load up your candy of choice ( I recommend starting with skittles) onto its trays lined with parchment paper and let the machine do it’s magic.
3. After a few hours, your candy should be completely freeze-dried! Store the candies in a air-tight container or zip- lock bag and enjoy

With a Freezer

This method wouldn’t really technically be freeze-dried candy, since there is no sublimation process, however, using a freezer will give your candies a different texture and is kid friendly so can be a fun experiment to try before buying the real deal.

1. Take whatever candy you’d like and place it on a tray with parchment paper
2. Let freeze undisturbed in the freezer overnight or for best results one month to really freeze any water trapped inside
3. Take the candies out of the freezer, let come to room temp, and enjoy!
4. Store whatever is left in an air-tight container or zip-lock bag

With Dry Ice

Try out this method with caution, as dry ice can lead to serious skin burns and damage if handled improperly. Maybe let the kids sit this one out and just have them enjoy the end result instead. Also, be sure to check out the safety instructions and make sure you are properly equipped before trying it out on your own. You can find the instructions and dry ice equipment here

1. Place whichever candy you’d like in a freezer bag and palace them into a cooler. make sure that the bags are not completely sealed
2. Place your dry ice over the bags and let sit overnight. Again, make sure that the cooler is not completely sealed
3. Remove the bags from the cooler and place into an airtight container or zip-lock bag and enjoy!

What if I just want to buy freeze-dried candy?

Sure! There are plenty of stores that are currently selling a rainbow of freeze-dried candies made for consumption. You can buy theme on amazon here 

Whichever you choose, I hope you get to taste one of the hottest new candy trends!

But if you’d like to start your own freeze-dried candy business at home or are interested in all the great things freeze-dryers can do, please feel free to check out Harvest Right’s Freeze Dryers and give your kitchen a fancy to piece of equipment!

Photo credit from Harvestright.com

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