Candycopia on Lake Street in Oak Park is at the center of a new taste trend. The local candy store started freeze drying familiar candies, resulting in textures and flavor bursts unlike traditional confections.
This treat transformation was first popularized on Tik Tok.
“A chewy something becomes crunchy. Even a Jolly Rancher, which is a solid, puffs and expands. It turns into a light, kind of airy texture,” Candycopia co-owner Patrick Mason said. “It creates a little bit more of an intense flavor.”
A Charleston Chew candy bar’s gooey, marshmallow nougat center transforms into crisp meringue that crumbles in your mouth. The gummy center of a Nerd Clusters expands into a Corn Pop-like structure studded with Nerds. Skittles puff up like kernels of popcorn.
The process is not unlike using a dehydrator at home, but amped up with a commercial machine that creates a vacuum.
“It was a lot of trial and error. You would think you just turn it on and freeze dry, but you have to figure out the time and the setting, the temperature. Every candy is different,” said co-owner Alycia Mason.
The rollout of the only candies that are made in-store at Candycopia didn’t come without some missteps.
Like trademark infringement.
“Being very naive and not understanding and thinking we’re small biz and no one’s going to be after us for calling it Skittles,” Alycia Mason said. “We are not allowed to use any brand names.”
But using those same candies as ingredients isn’t a problem. Major candy manufacturers are jumping on the trend as well. Freeze-dried versions from the original makers are starting to appear on the shelves of mainstream stores.
But Candycopia has an advantage with the delicate candies that easily crush. “We can pull it right out of the dryer, package it, and it moved all of six feet from where it was made,” Patrick Mason said. “And that preserves the flavors better too.”
Innovation is also a part of the Candycopia gameplan.
“More experimentation and maybe interesting use of it,” Alycia Mason said, “like incorporating freeze dried candies into other things, like doughnuts, milkshakes, cookies. At Christmas, we did Little Debbie Cake Christmas Trees. At Easter, we did Peeps.”
The candy wizards at Candycopia are experimenting further. To make a new ice cream sundae, first they pulverized freeze dried peach rings into a dust, then sprinkled that and graham cracker crumbles over vanilla ice cream. Voila! Peach cobbler flavors become their Southern Belle sundae.
“I genuinely believe this is a category that is not going anywhere,” Patrick Mason said. “You’re going to have things evolve, but freeze-dried confections are here to stay.”
Know before you go:
Website: www.candycopia.com
Hours: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: 717 Lake St., Oak Park