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Example video title will go here for this video freeze dried gummy skittles
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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — If your valentine has a sweet tooth, how about a different type of candy for Valentine’s Day? Freeze dried candy has been around since the '50s, offering a sweet treat for our astronauts while in space. More recently, it’s becoming a lot more popular here on Earth.
Christine Wanta owns W Foods in Grand Rapids. She told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “We find a lot of people, still, that haven’t had it yet.”
Married for more than 25 years, Christine and Scott Wanta initially wanted a freeze dryer for the veggies leftover from their garden.
“And then our teenager was like, ‘hey, you can make candy.’ We’re like what are you talking about?”
They started with one machine and a few craft shows.
“Well, those three craft shows did really, really well,” she said.
Scott quit his job and the two were all in.
Christine said, “It was a huge like risk that we had to like trust each other that we were going to go do this and then really dedicate that time and energy that we knew it was going to take to kick off the business.”
Getting some help from the Cooking Connection, a small business helping other small businesses get their start. It’s a business 13 ON YOUR SIDE covered back in May of 2024.
Christine explained how helpful this was in getting their business up and running, thanking Holly del Rosario, the managing partner of Cooking Connection.
“What Holly allowed us to get is get our license under her without having to invest in our very own space and all the utilities and everything that comes along with that.”
Six months later, the couple moved W Foods into its own kitchen space.
“We were starting to struggle with keeping up on demand for our big events,” said Christine.
Bringing you some of your favorite flavors in a whole new way.
Christine said it’s especially appealing “for people that can’t have chewy candy anymore—such as kids with braces or people that have like permanents in their teeth or crowns, etc.—it gives them an opportunity to have some of their favorite candies because we’ve changed that texture up for them.”
More recently, the company added even more freeze dried options.
Christine said, “This summer, we found people were asking – you know, they didn’t want their kids to have the candy, or they didn’t want the candy. So, they were asking for healthier options.”
They now offer freeze dried fruit, like “strawberries, pineapples, mangos and blueberries,” according to Christine.
It’s a timely process, ranging from a couple of hours to 16 hours for candy. A couple of days for the fruit.
Scott explained, “It’s not technically freeze dried with candy. It’s more of like a vacuum oven situation. So, it heats up the candy, softens it a little bit, and then vacuums out all the air and moisture.”
The treat is changing the game for some of the classic candy we know and love.
“We have a sour gummy worm and then we’re able to do peach rings. We’re very proud of our peach rings. They get very large in size, and they have that consistency of like a Cheeto or a Funyun but everyone can still enjoy that peach ring flavor that they like. Skittles are probably our most popular. Those ones sell the best, usually, but we also carry Chewy Sprees, Sweet Tarts, Saltwater Taffy are a really great one that we carry. It literally melts away in your mouth when you take a bite,” said Christine.
They sell their products online or inside the Home & Heritage on Plainfield Avenue in Grand Rapids.
can freeze dried candy melt Of course, because of copyright issues, the candy won’t be labeled Skittles or Sweet Tarts. Instead, they’ve created new names for the freeze dried version of the candy.