Sweets come in many shapes and forms, but have you ever tried freeze-dried lollies?
What started as a fun project seen on TikTok turned into a fun family business for Geraldine Hickman.
Crunchy Bites started when Ms Hickman’s girlfriend Belinda Taylor bought a freeze-drying machine to prepare meals for her kids, who do a lot of after-school activities.
“We realistically got it because my girlfriend, her kids do a lot of swimming and stuff like that,” Ms Hickman said.
“When we saw it on TikTok, we thought, ‘oh, we'll give the lollies a go’, and we started with those.
“There’s so much hit-and-miss ... some things worked, some things didn't work, how long does it take, trying to work all this stuff out, so it took us a while, but eventually, we got there.
“What we actually bought it for just went to the side and the lollies and things just sort of took over.”
Ms Hickman, who was born and raised in Seymour, is currently based in Ballarat, but comes back to town often to deliver her products and visit family.
“I'm a member of the Seymour show,” she said.
“My sister and I run the Seymour Pony Club, so still very involved in the Seymour community because it'll always be home.”
In fact, Ms Hickman brought her freeze-dried products to the Seymour Show earlier this month and came back last weekend to deliver to more customers.
“I'm up and down all the time, so if you ever want anything, you just message and I can deliver it, and that way they're not paying a delivery fee or anything like that,” she said.
Crunchy Bites’ products are not only lollies, but also fruits.
Ms Hickman said getting it right was difficult, but they wanted to hold their products to a high standard.
So, what happens to her products that are not good enough to be packaged, but are still too good to throw away?
“We sell seconds packs,” Ms Hickman said.
“People get them at a much discounted rate.”
At the Seymour Show, Ms Hickman sold out of the seconds packs as mystery bags.
“They disappeared. I ran out of those,” she said.
“I didn't have anywhere near as much as I should have taken with me.”
Ms Hickman has a great range of products in her online shop, but many of the ideas come from her kids.
“We sell the sour watermelon lollies and the only reason we did them is because they're my daughter's favourite, and she said, ‘can we try these?’, and I'm like, ‘yeah, no worries’,” she said.
“My other son, he loves Redskins and he said, ‘can you try those?’, so we tried them and we were really excited when they worked.”
Ms Hickman also highlighted that freeze-dried lollies were suitable for those with sensory issues.
“My son, actually, has autism, and for him it’s a sensory thing, so he doesn't like the squishy textures. So he can eat these and it's great,” she said.
“I run a childcare service down here in Ballarat. I had a child who had type 1 diabetes and when he would come in and if his blood sugars were high, his parents would always say he can’t have any fruit, he can only have berries.
“If we couldn’t get berries because they’re out of season and things like that, I spoke to the parents and said, ‘look, I've got freeze-dried mixed berries, is it okay to offer it to him?’
“He would have something sugary every morning for breakfast because he knew he could have these berries for morning tea when he comes in.
“It’s a great way for people who need to be able to have that little thing to snack on, but it’s never going to go yuck as long as you keep it sealed.”
Ms Hickman said freeze-dried candies might be bizarre to some, but they were definitely worth a try.
“If you haven’t tried it, just give it a go,” she said.
“Find your favourite that you like and then try it.
“If you love it, you love it, and by all means, send us a message or help us find someone up there that will stock us, and then you'll have it there all the time.”