Even though I’ve been having trouble with our septic–and with getting someone out to fix it–I still wanted to freeze-dry something, so while I was at Sam’s Club (getting more bus boy bins to wash dishes during the apocalypse), I figured I would try freeze-drying candy. Although there were many options with it being so close to Halloween, I went with two staples of my youth, Skittles and M&Ms:
I paid about $9.50 and $14 respectively, and used about half of the jars. So, let’s say I spent about $12 on product.
Without much forethought, I simply dumped Skittles onto the trays and went for it:
I thought about including M&Ms in this batch, but I decided to run a separate cycle for the M&Ms because I expected the machine to only run a few hours, and I wasn’t sure whether having two different candies in the machine at one time would mess things up.
As it happens, Harvest Right emailed about an update to the software (that required me to purchase a USB/thumb drive to install the updates) which also discussed how to use the “candy mode,” something I didn’t know existed.
Anyway, it’s rather easy to setup, but the idea is to pick a time between two and three hours–I chose two and a half hours–and a temperature between 135-150 Fahrenheit (I chose 140 Fahrenheit) and let the machine work its magic.
What I didn’t realize was that the freeze dryer does NOT first freeze the candy like it does everything else. Instead, it warms the trays to my chosen temperature while also pulling a vacuum:
They give you the option to first warm the trays before running a cycle, though I don’t fully understand why because it has to warm the trays regardless. The machine also first cools down the unit to 45 Fahrenheit for some reason, though I assume it has more to do with me not understanding the machine settings well enough for candy yet.
While waiting for the machine to finish with the Skittles, I wondered what the candy would turn out like in my dehydrator. So, I lined a few trays with parchment paper, and after two hours, this is what happened:
Right. Nothing happened. Well, I warmed up a few dozen Skittles and M&Ms, lol. Apparently, pulling a vacuum is a prerequisite for this process to work. Who knew?
Back to the freeze dryer. After two and a half hours, the Skittles were done and puffy like I’d expected:
Truth be told, they looked about like this after an hour, though maybe the Skittles still needed more time. Interestingly, when I opened the drain valve to vent the machine, which also allows me to open the door, no water seemed to come out of the hose, so my guess is that the candies were basically dry to start with. (Harvest Right confirms that candy is essentially dry already.)
Then I waited for the M&Ms to finish, but they didn’t look like I’d expected (all puffy like the Skittles) so I let them dry for another hour:
I assumed that since the M&Ms hadn’t changed shape in a while that they were done. Well, as it turns out, that’s not true. In fact, about all I accomplished with the M&Ms is that I heated them up, forcing all that yummy chocolate to ooze. My wife thinks I should’ve let the M&Ms freeze-dry for longer, so maybe I’ll try that again in the future. For now, however, I just bagged them up and sent them to my nearly-three-year-old-niece to eat; I’m sure my sister-in-law will love me for that. 🙂
So, how did they taste?
The Skittles were a partial hit. My wife and kid loved them. I assumed my nephews and niece would like them, too, but they didn’t seem that excited. Personally, I thought the Skittles were harder to chew than I’d imagined they would be. The outside was hard, like I’d expected, but the insides weren’t as “soft” as I’d heard they should be, though I’m not sure why. Regardless, the immediate family approves.
As for the M&Ms, they were a bust. I basically just ruined a few pounds of M&Ms as near as I can tell, which sucks because I do enjoy them very much. I assume my niece (who loves M&Ms) won’t mind one way or another.
Perhaps I’ll wait until after Halloween and see if I can get some candy on clearance and try something different. I know my friend’s wife wants some Charleston Chew Bars, and I think mini Snickers or Twix would be fun to try.
Anything you would like to see me try? Let me know in the comments.
Leave a Reply