Future Foods Is Taking Candy to a New Level With Freeze Drying

Mandy Wolz wasn't sure what the future had in store for her at the onset of the pandemic. COVID-19 had brought an abrupt halt to her job as a corporate event planner and consultant, and the mother of three suddenly had free time. A chance sampling of freeze-dried Skittles led her to start her own line of freeze-dried snacks, Future Foods.

Most people think of freeze-dried food as something meant for backpacking or doomsday prep, not for everyday snacking. Wolz wants to change that.

She describes the first time she sampled freeze-dried Skittles: “An unexpected crunch with big flavor — the inside of the Skittle dissolves, like eating a Skittle-flavored puff or Skittle popcorn,” she recalls. “They were amazing — I couldn’t stop thinking about them.” So she began researching the technique used to make them, purchasing a machine and experimenting with freeze-drying other candies and fruits. As the project grew, she leased commissary space.
The freeze-drying method preserves food by removing all of the moisture through the process of sublimation — the machine gets simultaneously hot and cold while also removing pressure from the vacuum chamber. Twenty-four hours later, a future food is created. The nutrients and taste are completely preserved, but the texture changes drastically, like a hard candy that melts into a cotton candy puff in your mouth.

With three built-in taste-testers at home, she was able to dial in the recipes to figure out the correct combination of heat, cold and time for each new product. Now, Future Foods boasts a line of 25 items and counting, including household favorites Hi Chews, Jolly Rancher Puffs and Peach Ring Crisps.

One package of Future Foods Skittles is equivalent to 1.5 bags of Skittles from the grocery store at a fraction of the weight; in the past year, Wolz has gone through 1,600 bags of Skittles alone.

“It’s been going tremendously well for someone who’s never owned a candy business,” jokes Wolz, who does all of the freeze-drying, packaging and shipping with the aid of her husband — when he’s not at his day job.

After launching online sales in February 2021, Wolz repped Future Foods at farmers' markets across the Front Range and as a vendor at various pop-up markets, where her event-planning background came in handy. Her favorite part of participating was watching people’s reactions to the snack samples. “I tell people, ‘I’m going to give you something that’s going to make you smile,’” she says. "I like helping people enjoy something they already know, but with a total twist, or inviting them to be excited about something small.”
In 2022, Wolz is planning to be at even more farmers' markets — three to four each week during the summer. She is also experimenting with new products. Market friendships led to her doing freeze-dried fruits, including Palisade peaches and strawberries, which are now out of season and stock, but Wolz wants to bring them back. She's also going to add freeze-dried vegetables flavored with seasonings, including everything bagel and curry.

As for the future of Future Foods, she predicts that freeze-dried products will make their way to supermarket shelves and onto plates in restaurants. “I never was a food geek — I love to eat food, I love the Denver eating scene," she notes, "but freeze-drying is totally something that we’ll see in more restaurants. It will become a popular niche." It's even been trending on TikTok.

Follow Wolz's journey on the Future Foods Instagram, or visit her online shop.