I like these informative videos with info on how to do the freeze drying itself. I don't freeze dry to make money, but my mom just got a freeze dryer, and we are both experimenting with it. From a fellow Idahoan.
Good Day. " we are a Florida family " My 17 year old son want to buy his own car and come up with the idea of selling dry freeze candy.. For research i come across your channel and receive quite a bit of information. THANK YOU kindly.. AS A THANK YOU 😊 I use your Harvest Right Freeze Dryers affiliate link to purchase his first freeze Dryer. thank again for your information you provide to the world any any Blessing to you and your family.
Question for you since I see you are the best freeze drying channel out to date. I been making batches of candy which I always just did food. I bought my freeze drier a year ago and it has candy mode on it and I did jolly ranchers a few times over the last 2 days. I did 145 shelve temp with a 8 min warm up tray time with 4 hours extra dry time. Most of them came out perfect when some came out untouched. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? When it comes to warm up time is this something I should be using when doing candy's and will some candy's require more warm up time?
Good video. We have a Harvest Right as well. We have been doing candy for about two years and sell them at farmers markets and at our farm store. We have done skittles, jolly ranchers, gummy worms, milk duds, Charleston Chews, Weathers, Junior mints, Lemon heads, Carmel M&Ms, nerds, bananas, strawberries, all the flavors of skittles and red hots. Skittles is our number one seller then it just depends what kind of mood people are in after that for the other flavors.
Im nowhere near you so I won't be a competitor. Would you mind sharing what seems to make the most money for you? And what are you selling those common products? Trying to feel out what different stuff is selling for to get an idea if we want to start a side business. Thank you for any help or information.
Hey there! Feel free to email me (email is in the About section of my channel). I have a standard fee for consulting and happy to help you answer those questions.
So in my state I called my local health department and they had no clue how it works and said it do not really fall under a cottage as I was not “ making” the food and it doesn’t fall under a repackaging category as it’s not the same product once freeze dried. Is that the green light to just go for it?
That’s a tough call, if they didn’t say you couldn’t start then I feel that’s not a clear “no” and you could do it under cottage food. The thing that still may be obstacle is you will need to be approved as a cottage food operator by the Health district. I would suggest showing them the Harvest Right website or even my channel and tell them what the freeze drying process is all about. Three years ago, Idaho was the same way and they just wanted to see my process and the machine. Hope that helps and feel free to email me.
Try calling back and speaking with someone else. The first two people I spoke to didn’t know what a freeze dryer was. It would be hard to believe that you are the only person in the whole state who is using a freeze dryer for business purposes. Someone there has answers for you.
@@TheRealBatCave LOL. It's weird that no one seems to want to answer these questions. On my page I go into great detail about not only candy but regular food and what i've found is that it all depends on where your freeze dryer is located. If it's in a cool room with lots of ventilation, then the freeze dryer seems to run more efficiently. If it's in a warm room then it takes longer to run the same batch. I have found that for soft centered candies like caramel and skittles then 1-2 minutes is the sweet spot more me. Temp will range from 130-140f. I just did a batch of skittles and the temp was 145f with a warm tray at 3 minutes and although they came out super great, i think a little less time warming the tray at a slightly lower temp would have been even better. Jolly ranchers on the other hand seem to benefit from a 7-9-minute warming cycle at a temp of 145f (at least for me). Worthers original hard candies go even longer. So there's a learning curve that comes with each candy. Funny enough when it comes to gummy worms, there's no setting in candy mode that I'm happy with, but i'll certainly update my journey on my page as I learn how to navigate this machine!! Hope that helps. 😉😉
@@2guysandacooler thanks, yea ive found its hard to get answers like this from other people doing the same thing for whatever reason i appreciate ur reply. Same with brands that dont work/do work. I just started a cycle of skittles, no tray warming time and 4 hours dry time, as i did 2 other batches 1 with 3 min warming and 1 with 6 min warming, they were both still a lil chewy in the middle i read somewhere to try no warming.....we will see how it goes...(145 @ 4 hours)
Go to Harvest Right using this link affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html. Go to the "Shop" tab and then "Accessories", they have the silicone molds and mats listed there
I've heard skittles give you "skittles oil" where the oil in your pump gets really mucky and thick before it reaches 25 batches. Do you have this issue with skittles?
I’m not seeing a link for the silicone mold u used for caramel m& m’s. Can u tell me where u hug that? I just bought the medium harvest right, are the trays the Same size as yours on the large freeze dryer? u just have an extra tray in the large right?
Hi David what I’d like to know if it is best to put my freeze drier in my garage that has a garage door that opens. Or put it in my utility room that is small. I know I probably don’t have enough info. Any feed back I would appreciate! Love your videos. I have your candy video of your caramel M&Ms, and skittles. I have a large size HF freeze dryer no oil put. It’s still in box with the other things I ordered. I do have rooms in my house could work. Thanks for any feed back.
Both would work. When I started I had mine in my garage because I didn't have a utility room. The one concern would just be venting but the FD doesn't really give off much exhaust so that may not be as big of an issue.
By now it's still not in the box and you have presumably learned this, but the large Harvest Right freeze dryer requires a dedicated 20 amp circuit and a special receptacle.
Hi, I've got a FD machine (not the Harvestright) for which I have to enter the temperature and time of sublimation and drying manually. Could you please tell me these parameters?
@@RamboUnchainedno unfortunately with a dehydrator you will only get a puddle of skittles. The freeze dryer operates completely different with it going under vacuum
Hi new to your channel and I’m wanting to start a home freeze dry business and what I’m struggling with is do you have to have a business license to sell it on line? Hope you don’t mind me asking
I’m not an attorney or an expert in business aspects for your state but in general yes, you need to have a business registered with your state to sell to a consumer. In regards to a freeze dried business, all states are different on what they allow under cottage food laws vs being in a commercial kitchen. You would need to check with your local county health districts on if selling online is allowed. In Idaho where I operate, online sales is allowed. Hope that helps and thank you for following the channel!
@@freezedriedbusiness that does help a lot. From what I read I do but then I get confused. So I will do a lot more research before I buy my machine. Thank you so much for the info and love the videos!!
Sadly, they aren’t making these silicone inserts for the XL, yet. I had 2 mediums and sold them both. Afterward, was contacted by a chain , wanting to carry my candy. So now, looking into getting an XL
The XL is awesome I’ve heard. You have to work with the settings a little cause it’s a different machine but there’s so much more product you can do in one cycle. If you do end up purchasing the XL, would you mind buying through my Harvest Right referral link? affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
Skittles doesn't lose any weight after freeze-drying so you can calculate it directly from how much you put on the tray if you weigh it prior. I put about half of the 50 oz container on a tray and I put about 4.25 ounces in my bags so one tray with 25 oz would get me about five bags.
@@freezedriedbusiness thank you so much for your videos! I'm just getting my measurements and prices set up. Would you please share your pricing for Skittles like you did on your taffy video? Pretty please?
I have not but I don't believe they would work unless you soften them up first in a high-heat environment like an oven and then put them into the FD on Candy Mode.
Do you have any problem with your m&ms not bursting open? We just started and did a small run of a hand full of candies and probably about a third of our m&ms didn’t open and they were just rock hard
I like these informative videos with info on how to do the freeze drying itself. I don't freeze dry to make money, but my mom just got a freeze dryer, and we are both experimenting with it. From a fellow Idahoan.
Thank you for watching and following the channel, freeze drying is a fun hobby just as much as it is doing it for money.
Good Day. " we are a Florida family " My 17 year old son want to buy his own car and come up with the idea of selling dry freeze candy.. For research i come across your channel and receive quite a bit of information. THANK YOU kindly.. AS A THANK YOU 😊 I use your Harvest Right Freeze Dryers affiliate link to purchase his first freeze Dryer. thank again for your information you provide to the world any any Blessing to you and your family.
Thank you so much and good luck with the new business!
You’re exactly right, I was wondering why you’re wearing a cowboys jacket in Idaho 😂
Question for you since I see you are the best freeze drying channel out to date. I been making batches of candy which I always just did food. I bought my freeze drier a year ago and it has candy mode on it and I did jolly ranchers a few times over the last 2 days. I did 145 shelve temp with a 8 min warm up tray time with 4 hours extra dry time. Most of them came out perfect when some came out untouched. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? When it comes to warm up time is this something I should be using when doing candy's and will some candy's require more warm up time?
Good video. We have a Harvest Right as well. We have been doing candy for about two years and sell them at farmers markets and at our farm store. We have done skittles, jolly ranchers, gummy worms, milk duds, Charleston Chews, Weathers, Junior mints, Lemon heads, Carmel M&Ms, nerds, bananas, strawberries, all the flavors of skittles and red hots. Skittles is our number one seller then it just depends what kind of mood people are in after that for the other flavors.
That is awesome!
The carmel cold brew mms are great freeze dried for coffee lovers too
That sounds delicious, where do you find the cold brew ones?
That's what I want to FD
Good video, thank you David. Happy trails!
Thanks, you too!
I really enjoy your channel, it's giving me ideas to supplement for retirement. Keep up the good work, thanks
Awesome! Thank you for watching and supporting the channel.
I am starting a freeze dry biz in iowa. We just opened our doors may 1. We have 3 machines right now
Awesome! Good luck to you!
Im nowhere near you so I won't be a competitor. Would you mind sharing what seems to make the most money for you? And what are you selling those common products? Trying to feel out what different stuff is selling for to get an idea if we want to start a side business. Thank you for any help or information.
Hey there! Feel free to email me (email is in the About section of my channel). I have a standard fee for consulting and happy to help you answer those questions.
The Carmel m&ms are my fav and I can’t wait to try them freeze dried.
So good!
Cheers from Canada, great info, enjoying your videos
Thanks for watching!
So in my state I called my local health department and they had no clue how it works and said it do not really fall under a cottage as I was not “ making” the food and it doesn’t fall under a repackaging category as it’s not the same product once freeze dried. Is that the green light to just go for it?
That’s a tough call, if they didn’t say you couldn’t start then I feel that’s not a clear “no” and you could do it under cottage food. The thing that still may be obstacle is you will need to be approved as a cottage food operator by the Health district. I would suggest showing them the Harvest Right website or even my channel and tell them what the freeze drying process is all about. Three years ago, Idaho was the same way and they just wanted to see my process and the machine. Hope that helps and feel free to email me.
Try calling back and speaking with someone else. The first two people I spoke to didn’t know what a freeze dryer was. It would be hard to believe that you are the only person in the whole state who is using a freeze dryer for business purposes. Someone there has answers for you.
Yup
Better to ask for forgiveness than permission if they don’t know what they are doing
What state? Did you get an answer?
Where did you get that cubical mat for the caramel M&M's?
Exactly
Just google harvest right silicone molds.
That WAS a very exciting intro! Nice job lol🎉
Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing with us you’re awesome
You're welcome!
Hey David. Did you warm the trays and if so for how long? Thanks in advance😉😉
No1 wants 2 answer these types of questions i notice.....that and brands that work lol. Did u have any luck find temps, warming times and dry times?
@@TheRealBatCave LOL. It's weird that no one seems to want to answer these questions. On my page I go into great detail about not only candy but regular food and what i've found is that it all depends on where your freeze dryer is located. If it's in a cool room with lots of ventilation, then the freeze dryer seems to run more efficiently. If it's in a warm room then it takes longer to run the same batch. I have found that for soft centered candies like caramel and skittles then 1-2 minutes is the sweet spot more me. Temp will range from 130-140f. I just did a batch of skittles and the temp was 145f with a warm tray at 3 minutes and although they came out super great, i think a little less time warming the tray at a slightly lower temp would have been even better. Jolly ranchers on the other hand seem to benefit from a 7-9-minute warming cycle at a temp of 145f (at least for me). Worthers original hard candies go even longer. So there's a learning curve that comes with each candy. Funny enough when it comes to gummy worms, there's no setting in candy mode that I'm happy with, but i'll certainly update my journey on my page as I learn how to navigate this machine!! Hope that helps. 😉😉
@@2guysandacooler thanks, yea ive found its hard to get answers like this from other people doing the same thing for whatever reason i appreciate ur reply. Same with brands that dont work/do work. I just started a cycle of skittles, no tray warming time and 4 hours dry time, as i did 2 other batches 1 with 3 min warming and 1 with 6 min warming, they were both still a lil chewy in the middle i read somewhere to try no warming.....we will see how it goes...(145 @ 4 hours)
@@TheRealBatCave I think you'll like the 145f. Mine took just under 3 hours at 145f. I'm about to upload the results😉😉
where do you get the silicone tray
Go to Harvest Right using this link affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html. Go to the "Shop" tab and then "Accessories", they have the silicone molds and mats listed there
I love the idea of your silicone mold! where did you find it?
Bought them directly off Harvest Right's website: affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
Hi love your videos Can you give me steps for gummies I've tried 2 times and both times they've exploded I have the 5pro 5 tray please help
I put 16 oz on a large tray when doing Skittles. It ensures that every batch comes out with no clumping.
Great method, I like this idea to ensure consistency.
I've heard skittles give you "skittles oil" where the oil in your pump gets really mucky and thick before it reaches 25 batches. Do you have this issue with skittles?
So, did u do the skittles on the same setting & time as the M&M's? Thank you so much. Your subscriber
Yes!
Have u ever made fd sweet pickle relish?
I have not but that sounds great
did you warm the trays
Not for these candies, warm trays only for hard shell candies like lemonheads
I have a medium size freeze dryer where can I find a mold for those trays?
You can order from Harvest Right on their website: affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
@@freezedriedbusiness Thanks I haven't been to that site since I bought the machine!
I’m not seeing a link for the silicone mold u used for caramel m& m’s. Can u tell me where u hug that? I just bought the medium harvest right, are the trays the Same size as yours on the large freeze dryer? u just have an extra tray in the large right?
affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
just found your site. great info. how long can you store skittles and in what?
Sorry for the late reply, Skittles I have stored for nearly a year in these buckets: 5 Gallon Storage Pails with Gamma Screw Lid - amzn.to/3ICnXdT.
have you ever done carmel apple pops? if so what time and temp do you process them?
I have and the temp I did them at was 140 for 4-5 hours
How loud is the freeze dryer? What would you compare it to? Hair dryer?
It sounds like a large fan.
Hi David what I’d like to know if it is best to put my freeze drier in my garage that has a garage door that opens. Or put it in my utility room that is small. I know I probably don’t have enough info. Any feed back I would appreciate! Love your videos. I have your candy video of your caramel M&Ms, and skittles. I have a large size HF freeze dryer no oil put. It’s still in box with the other things I ordered. I do have rooms in my house could work. Thanks for any feed back.
Both would work. When I started I had mine in my garage because I didn't have a utility room. The one concern would just be venting but the FD doesn't really give off much exhaust so that may not be as big of an issue.
By now it's still not in the box and you have presumably learned this, but the large Harvest Right freeze dryer requires a dedicated 20 amp circuit and a special receptacle.
Hi, I've got a FD machine (not the Harvestright) for which I have to enter the temperature and time of sublimation and drying manually. Could you please tell me these parameters?
I don't know how to operate other machines outside of Harvest Right, sorry.
Where do you get the silicone cube mats? Thanks
You can buy directly from Harvest Right here: affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html.
What can you do about a silicone mat if you have a Stay Fresh?
@@melindadefore7109 following! I need a mat for a StayFresh as well.
Love your videos, love your buisness, love your state, but go GreenBay Packers!! 🙃
Where did you get the mat?
You can buy them directly from Harvest Right on their website: affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
I ordered a harvest right freeze dryer and I wondered what the timer and temp are you use to make the skittles
2 hours, 140 degress.
@@freezedriedbusinessso, can I make this using a dehydrator as opposed to spending thousands on a freeze dryer?
@@RamboUnchainedno unfortunately with a dehydrator you will only get a puddle of skittles. The freeze dryer operates completely different with it going under vacuum
Did you warm the trays or skip that step?@@freezedriedbusiness
Do you choose to warm the trays or NOT warm the trays when doing these?
No warming
Can we order candy as well from you please?❤❤ i like to try them with my girls😊
Yes you can. Go to my website which is in my About section of the channel. Thank you!
Where can I find out how to do Mambas.
I haven’t done them before
Hi new to your channel and I’m wanting to start a home freeze dry business and what I’m struggling with is do you have to have a business license to sell it on line? Hope you don’t mind me asking
I’m not an attorney or an expert in business aspects for your state but in general yes, you need to have a business registered with your state to sell to a consumer. In regards to a freeze dried business, all states are different on what they allow under cottage food laws vs being in a commercial kitchen. You would need to check with your local county health districts on if selling online is allowed. In Idaho where I operate, online sales is allowed. Hope that helps and thank you for following the channel!
@@freezedriedbusiness that does help a lot. From what I read I do but then I get confused. So I will do a lot more research before I buy my machine. Thank you so much for the info and love the videos!!
You’re welcome! Any other questions feel free to email me. Address is in my channel profile.
@@freezedriedbusiness thanks you so much!!
Sadly, they aren’t making these silicone inserts for the XL, yet. I had 2 mediums and sold them both. Afterward, was contacted by a chain , wanting to carry my candy. So now, looking into getting an XL
The XL is awesome I’ve heard. You have to work with the settings a little cause it’s a different machine but there’s so much more product you can do in one cycle. If you do end up purchasing the XL, would you mind buying through my Harvest Right referral link? affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
@@freezedriedbusiness , sure will; thanks
If you freeze or refrigerate them, you don’t sell these then ?.
How many bags do you sell from a tray lightly packed of skittles? Also what size is your freeze dryer?
Skittles doesn't lose any weight after freeze-drying so you can calculate it directly from how much you put on the tray if you weigh it prior. I put about half of the 50 oz container on a tray and I put about 4.25 ounces in my bags so one tray with 25 oz would get me about five bags.
@@freezedriedbusiness thank you so much for your videos! I'm just getting my measurements and prices set up. Would you please share your pricing for Skittles like you did on your taffy video? Pretty please?
Have you ever tried FD Red Hots?
I have not but I don't believe they would work unless you soften them up first in a high-heat environment like an oven and then put them into the FD on Candy Mode.
@@freezedriedbusiness ok- thanks for the tip!
Do you have any problem with your m&ms not bursting open? We just started and did a small run of a hand full of candies and probably about a third of our m&ms didn’t open and they were just rock hard
Add more dry time, 3-4 hours. I still have some not pop which is normal. If you have a 1/3 on a tray not pop, I would add more dry time.
What about heating time?
2 hours
love the caramels... they look like water molecules!
Best tasting candy after it's FD'd
how long does it take?
2 hours
Have you tried pre melting skittles like Starburst
I don't see the need to when they pop without warming the trays
Have you done Mike n Ike’s?
I have tried and they did not change in texture
How do you freeze dry gummie candy
Some work and others don’t. I’d suggest joining one the Facebook groups and find someone who’s done the candy you are wanting to freeze dry
What about fudge?
Chocolate doesn’t work, only when it’s wrapped around something like caramel or something chewy
What about maple or cherry fudge?
I have a question but don’t want to give away my stuff idea
Phone added, “stuff” stupid phone!
@@briannaburke2572 bad phone!
What about alcohol?
Doesn’t work
Jolly Ranchers are the best ! But you have to break them up & then FD.
no you don't .
👍👍👍👍👍
Hi please share your hot tamale candy temps and time info
I don’t have any experience doing hot tamale candies