New Freeze-Dried Candy! Our Review of Lemonheads, Spree, and SweeTarts

The big candy companies have finally gotten the message: Freeze-dry your candy or we will pay someone else to do it. Ferrara, the parent company of brands like Jelly Belly, Trolli, and Nerds, have revealed a trio of freeze-dried classic candies: Lemonheads, Spree, and SweeTarts. We were lucky enough to get our hands on some samples at this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo, so let’s crack them open and see whether this was worth all the liquid nitrogen.

New Freeze Dried Candy!

Freeze-Dried Lemonheads

Pros: Freeze-drying a Lemonhead gets you the chewable version of a state fair frozen lemonade. It’s good, but it’s so confusing to reconcile a flavor and texture combination that is typically exclusively wet.

Cons: I only had a small handful, but I believe the sourness would get old long before you hit the end of a full-sized bag of these.

Credit: Liv Averett / Griffin Parker

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

New Freeze Dried Candy!

Freeze-Dried Spree

Pros: I can’t remember the last time I had a standard Spree, but this definitely brought the flavor of this Wonka candy(!?) back. And they’re big! These were definitely the largest individual pieces of the trio I tried.

Cons: I have no strong complaints, but I wouldn’t buy these on purpose over the SweeTarts (which is interesting, since at least one description of Spree literally calls them “SweeTart-esque”).

Credit: Liv Averett / Griffin Parker

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

New Freeze Dried Candy!

Freeze-Dried SweeTarts

Pros: Alright, I’m a believer now. This is definitely more fun than a standard SweeTart; the flavor is exactly what you want, but the texture is an improved “crispy and crunchy” feeling as promised. The pro strategy will be to mix these in with your popcorn at the movies.

Cons: That eponymous tartness comes in a little later on these than a standard SweeTart—nothing worth rioting over, but it was an interesting difference.

Credit: Liv Averett / Griffin Parker

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Where can I find these new freeze-dried candies for myself?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to nail down the specific release date of these candies by the time this review was due. That said, I’m confident all three of these will hit shelves by the end of the year, and they shouldn’t be exclusive to any particular retailer when they’re released.