When Savannah Louise West first tasted freeze-dried gummies, she was intrigued.
“I think the crunch is so satisfying, and I find it interesting to experience a candy I’m familiar with that has an entirely new texture,” says the Toronto resident.
Ms West is describing one of the main features of this spin-off candy that independent and major confectionery manufacturers have been releasing onto shelves, both online and offline, for the past three years.
It’s been largely a US phenomenon, hence we’ll use the US term candy, but for our UK readers, we’re talking about sweets here.
Candy is usually chewy or glassy but place a familiar sweet like Skittles through the right process and you can turn it into a crunchy snack, like crisps, while also enhancing its sweet or tangy flavour.
The process involves a special oven that chills the product, heats it, steals away its moisture and puffs it up.
The market emerged when TikTok influencers showed off their favourite freeze-dried candy.
“Our customer demographic is mainly under 45 as they’ve likely heard about this type of candy on TikTok or other social platforms, and wanted to try something that is going viral,” says Zachry Barlett, a partner at TheFreezeDriedCandyStore.com, a Missouri-based online business that sells crunchy varieties of peach rings, gummy worms and ice cream.
“People have long eaten freeze-dried fruit, and it’s an industry where it can be accessible for anyone to enter as large freeze dryers have dropped in price,” he explains.
It’s proved such a hit that confectionery giants including Hershey, Mars and Ferrara have launched their own products.
With the help of those heavyweights, the freeze-dried candy market is projected to be worth $3.1bn (£2.4bn) by 2034, up from $1.3bn in 2024, according to a Market.us report.