After seeing a few social media posts about a new candy trend last year, Amanda Geopfert, of Fort Dodge, decided she wanted to give it a whirl, so she bought her first freeze dryer.

“I thought it was an inexpensive investment and found out that it wasn’t,” she said.

After a few successful batches of freeze-dried candy, Geopfert decided to go all-in, creating Fort Dodge Freeze Dried LLC — and recruited her family to help with the new business.

The process of freeze drying the candy removes all moisture, causing the candy to puff up and turn crispy, all without altering the flavor. A sour gummy worm might become the texture of a cheese puff, for example.

Submitted photo
When freeze-dried, sour gummy worms puff up to a texture similar to a cheese puff.

Geopfert freeze dries all types of candy, fruits and sweet snacks. Skittles and Nerd Clusters are the most popular, she said.

“I can’t keep the Nerd Clusters in stock,” Geopfert said. “Any show I go to, any event, they sell out.”

Around holidays, she adds some specialty treats like egg nog and snack cakes.

Overall, though, Geopfert’s favorite thing to freeze dry is ice cream.

“It’s so good after it’s done,” she said.

Geopfert’s sales come from vendor shows and special events, as well as online orders from the Fort Dodge Freeze Dried Facebook page or www.fdfreezedried.com website.

Time is probably the biggest factor when it comes to running the business. Each candy or food item takes a different amount of time to go through the process of freeze drying. Skittles take about three hours, while Nerd Clusters can go six to eight hours, Geopfert said. Items with higher moisture content can take longer, even several days.

“My electric bill has seen the brunt of it,” she said.

Geopfert operates the business out of the home she shares with her son, 11-year-old Liam, and boyfriend David Greene. Because freeze-dried candy and foods can be finicky with environmental factors, they’ve set up dehumidifiers to control the humidity and an air conditioner to keep the freeze dryer machine from getting too hot when it’s running for hours on end.

“If it wasn’t for David, I really honestly wouldn’t be able to do everything,” Geopfert said. “He does it all. He really does.”

Liam might actually have the most important job of all — professional taste-tester.

“He gets to try everything for sure,” Geopfert said.

Geopfert is looking to expand Fort Dodge Freeze Dried in the near future, with plans to purchase a second freeze dryer to process non-candy foods in order to make shelf-stable meals. As the business outgrows the room in her house, she said, she plans to move the whole operation to her garage.

“There’s a learning curve, so I’m still learning,” she said. “Still trying to figure it out on top of keeping a full-time job and doing as much as possible.”