How to Freeze Dry Jolly Ranchers at Home
Let me teach you how to freeze dry Jolly Ranchers at home. Freeze dried Jolly Ranchers are flavorful, crunchy, and they melt in your mouth!
Cost: $5
Ingredients
- 50 Jolly Ranchers (A 14 ounce bag has about 65 Jolly Ranchers in it)
Instructions
- Place parchment paper or silicone mats on the freeze dryer trays.
- Unwrap the Jolly Ranchers. Use a pipe cutting tool to cut each Jolly Rancher into 3 or 4 pieces. The puff up a lot so I usually cut them in quarters (4 pieces).
- Place the cut Jolly Ranchers onto the freeze dryer trays. I can usually fit 3 across if cut in ⅓ pieces or 4 across if cut in ¼ pieces and 10 down. Make sure you take the time to space them evenly apart because they will stick together when they puff up. (You may want to add another layer of parchment paper on top of the cut Jolly Ranchers to ensure that they don't stick to the top of the shelf if they puff up too big.)
- You do not need to preheat Jolly Ranchers before freeze drying them. Follow your freeze dryer manual and select Candy Mode and change the settings to 150℉ for 4 hours. For Stay Fresh freeze dryers, load the trays into the freeze dryer. Close the chamber door. Make sure the vacuum valve and drain valve are closed and press start.
- When they freeze dryer has finished, open the vacuum valve and then the chamber door. Check the Jolly Ranchers. They should be puffed up and break apart very easily.
- Immediately place the freeze dried Jolly Ranchers in Mylar Bags with an oxygen absorber and use an impulse sealer for long term storage. Or you can place them in Mason Jars and use an electronic vacuum sealer if you want to enjoy them within a couple months.