So you want to freeze dry candy at home without buying an actual freeze dryer? Well, you came to the right place, because here at the Sweet Lyfe, we got your answer, Dry Ice! Yes, frozen nitrogen is going to be your best friend in this process, as it's going to do the heavy lifting, making sure you achieve the closest results you can get without having your own freeze dryer. Just follow these steps:
- Make sure the candy is in bite-size pieces
- Put the candy in a freezer bag
- Completely freeze the candy
- Put the freezer bag in a cooler with dry ice
- Do not close the cooler completely
- Remove after 48 hours and enjoy!
The material you will need will be the candy of your choice, dry ice, a cooler, a freezer, and a freezer bag. First, cut up your candy into small pieces, as it will reduce the time it will take to freeze it. The next step is to freeze your candy. Use a freezer bag to do this. You don’t have to complete this step for hard candy, but you do for your other favourite candies. This will help solidify them and help the candy keep its shape throughout the procedure. After a few hours when they are completely frozen, take them out of the freezer, and place them into a cooler full of dry ice. The dry ice should be all around your candy, so it should be below it, at the sides of the freezer bag, and covering the freezer bag. Make sure not to seal the cooler, as the pressure from the dry ice will build up and it is likely to make the cooler explode.
Then let the candy sit for 48 hours and you’ll have your very own freeze dried candy. It might not look the same as freeze-dried candy made in a freeze dryer, but that's because the entire process is different, and the dry ice method is just to emulate the results of a freeze fryer.
The best way to freeze dry candy is to use a freeze dryer, but they aren’t the most common household appliance, so if you want to do it yourself, it's better to get creative and try this DIY solution. Try out your freeze drying favourite candies and most importantly, have fun!