At Henderson Farmers Market, alongside the heirloom tomatoes and handcrafted soap, just down from the fruit-filled empanadas and farm fresh eggs and under the same roof as local honey and every kind of garden produce you can imagine, there’s something just a little bit different to sample.
The vendor Pine Peaks Farm has a whole menu of freeze-dried items.
But it’s not just the things you might expect, like pineapple, banana chips and other varieties of fruit.
The Union County producer freeze-dries candy (such as Skittles, Nerds, Jolly Ranchers, Air Heads, Milk Duds and Gummy Worms), unconventional produce items (such as corn, pickles and ranch zucchini chips) and specialties like banana pudding bites and ice cream sandwiches.
Freeze-dried items have all their moisture removed causing an extra crispiness and intensity of flavors. Candies puff up and the result can be a melt-in-your-mouth crunch, as with Skittles, or flavor-intensive foam, which is the case with the hard candy Jolly Rancher. Driven by social media outlets, freeze-drying has become a viral trend.
This “sweet little family adventure” operated by Joe and Rachael Crowdus sort of happened by accident.
“Pine Peaks Farm started as a small adventure into freeze-drying,” Rachael said. “We process our own meat birds (chickens) and knew we would not have enough freezer space for all our meat.”
Their solution was to purchase a freeze-dryer to help preserve the chicken.
But having a new tool to work with can sometimes get the creative juices flowing, especially when you want it to help pay for itself.
“We thought it would be fun to try out candy and fruits,” she said noting that they then worked for a whole month to prepare items to take to the Farmers Market in Morganfield for a Friday night market event.
“What started out as a little way to offset our freeze-dry cost became a full-blown business adventure with us selling out and purchasing two more freeze-dryers to keep up with the demand,” Rachael said.
That was a couple of years ago, and they’ve since branched out by participating in the Henderson Farmers Market on Saturdays and setting up their booth at special events such as area crafts shows and special markets. They’ve also appeared at Henderson’s Tri-Fest.
In addition to farmers markets, their products are in Jen’s General Store in Morganfield and Amanda’s in Sturgis. Customers can also order through Messenger on Facebook, and they make deliveries weekly in Henderson.
Starting in the fall for winter holidays, they offer seasonal items such as caramel apple bites, peanut brittle, candy canes, Christmas tree cakes and Nerd rocks.
The items they feature mostly have come about through their love of food, Rachael said.
“My boys love pickles so we thought we would freeze dry them and see if they tasted good,” she said. “I also have some friends who have freeze-dryers and they are always sharing ideas about what they have tried. Ranch zucchini and banana pudding bites have both come from friends.”
Perfecting the process was a learning experience.
“Every machine runs differently even if it’s the same brand, so there is a learning curve to each one,” Rachael said. “I have had many, many, many Nerd clusters, gummy sharks and peach rings blow up in the freeze-dryers and make an awful mess.
“It’s sugary snow and is so difficult to clean,” she added. “Thankfully I now know my machines better and it’s very rare that things make messes, but it does still happen occasionally.”
Rachael said their experiences going to the markets, including Henderson’s, has been wonderful. Their young family, which includes three sons, has been able to meet new people, support other local businesses and contribute “to a wonderful community. We love getting to know people,” she added. “We love our community and enjoy being a part of it.”
Their boys are old enough and like to help, which is useful with the time-consuming items like banana pudding bites, ice cream sandwiches, strawberries and pickles.
“They love going on vacation, so we all work together to make that happen,” she said.
When they’re not thinking up new items to experiment with in their freeze-dryers, they homeschool their boys, lead worship services at their church and enjoy spending time with their family.
Oh, and there’s also still the chickens, which started this whole freeze-drying adventure.
The Henderson Farmers Market is open for the season from the first of May until the last of October on Tuesdays, Friday and Saturdays.
Growers and producers set up from 8 a.m. to noon (as long as supplies last). This variety of items and number of producers present at the market are at peak this month.
The market location is the Cates-Porter Farmers Market Pavilion at Henderson County Fairgrounds located on Sam Ball Way at Airline Road. Follow the Henderson Farmers Market Facebook page for updates.
