Freeze drying ‘transforms’ candy

Shane Blackwell is transforming sweets at his Independence-based Ice Age Candy Company. Photo by Lance Masterson.

Picture your favorite candy. What is it you most like about it? Its taste? Texture? Chewiness? Is it sweet or tart?

Now take this same candy - which probably has changed little since that first taste - and turn it into something completely different. Revolutionary, perhaps. Will its new bold taste appeal to you? Shane Blackwell thinks it will.

The candy visionary owns Ice Age Candy Company in Independence. Blackwell is so confident in freeze drying’s ability to bring candy into the 21st century he has “Candy Transformed” printed on his company shirts.

“That is our slogan, so to speak. That’s what freeze drying does, basically. It just transformed the candy from what you would normally experience,” he said. “Everything you would think the candy would typically be is no longer.”

Blackwell points to his candy display as Evidence A.

“You can see them straight down there in the center. The yellows and greens and blues and oranges. Those are Gummy Worms that we freeze dried,” he said. Once “freeze dried, Gummy Worms are like Cheetos (in texture), at least that’s what my customers tell me.”

But that’s not the only change. For example, freeze dried Skittles aren’t chewy. Instead, they are crunchy, airy and light. Taste is more intense, more varied. And they look like marbles.

Blackwell’s favorite is Bit-O-Honey.

“It has been freeze dried, so instead of being a really chewy taffy, it’s now crunchy, kind of gritty, almost the texture of stir peanut butter, like Adam’s. It has that little bit of grit to it. You get all the flavor,” he said. “Taffy used to be my number one, but then we started doing Bit-O-Honey, and that just blew me out of the water.”

Big Hunk comes in a close second.

“So when you bite into them, there’s a light crunch. First thing, you taste like a marshmallow, but then the peanuts that’s in the Big Hunk comes through. You get all that flavor,” he said. “As it melts in your mouth, you get a silky divinity.”

According to Wikipedia, freeze drying is a “low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, thereby removing the ice by sublimation.”

In contrast, the conventional method of dehydration relies on heat to evaporate water. 

Freeze drying takes place on site.

“I do all the different things here,” he said. “I have Snickers. I have Charleston Chews. I have Milk Duds. I have a bunch of Mallos and Airheads and Jolly Ranchers.”

The process changes the candy enough to allow Blackwell to sell his creations as unique entities.

“Because I buy actual candies and take it and freeze dry it, I’m adding value to it. Which is why we can resell,” he said. “Like I said, candy transformed. We’re transforming it into something different.”

That said, restrictions are in place to protect manufacturers. Blackwell does not sell or advertise his candies under their trademarked names. At Ice Age Candy, Charleston Chews are Pillow Puffs, Snickers are Snackers, Jolly Ranchers are Jolly Munchers. And so on.

“I don’t actually use the straight-up names because legally you can’t. On the back, on the ingredients list, is the only place I can use the actual name,” he said.

Blackwell picks up a bag.

“Right here (in the ingredients) it says Freeze Dried Skittles Sour Berry Mix, which (we sell as) Sour Wild Berry,” he explained. “I believe the Supreme Court (ruled) that the only place you can legally put it is on the back of the ingredients because you actually used it. So that is what I do. I go out and buy different candies, try them out, and if they work, and I like them, I put them out here for sale.”

Blackwell got into freeze drying because he wanted to take nourishment with him while hiking. He also wanted to improve his own diet to address health concerns. Later, he experimented by freeze drying Skittles and Gummies.

“I realized that I need to take this to the farmers markets here,” he said, “I’d been there doing my baked goods and stuff like that. So I took the candy there and I found that it was doing really well. People were really enjoying them.”

Part of the fun of selling freeze dried candy is watching the faces of those who are tasting them for the first time.

“The look on people’s faces when they try freeze-dried candy is so great. There’s like a look of confusion, excitement and enjoyment at the same time, because they don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “They expect something chewy when they have a Skittle, and it ends up being crunchy. Then they find the flavor is so intense, not exactly what they were expecting. And the flavor comes through more because you pulled all the water out.”

Ice Age Candy Company is at 227 So. Main Street in Independence. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday and Monday, noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Call (503) 420-9156 for more information.