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Freeze Dried Caramel Apples | A Healthier Halloween Treat
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May 16, 2025
Can you make Freeze-Dried Caramel Apples? I wanted to try something new for Halloween in my freeze-drying business that was healthy but still had a little sweetness for my sweet-tooth customers. In this video, I used my potato fry slicer to my Apple Fries and then drizzled Smucker's Caramel to see how it would taste. Watch the full video to see what happens! Here is the Fry Slicer I used in this video, there is a 3/8" option and a 1/2" option. I personally have the 3/8" option but the 1/2" would be just as good and a bit large of a cut. - Fry Slicer for Apples - https://amzn.to/3BZ9QeY I also used the FrozenRight Tray Grates: https://frozenright.com/product/tray-grates-medium-large-price-18-20/ Use 15% off Promo Code: freezedrieddepot If you need ideas for what to start freeze-drying for your business, watch this video for 20 items I would recommend freeze-drying first: https://youtu.be/neZYov6iQ2M Watch this video for the 10 steps I would take if I were starting a freeze-dried business from scratch: https://youtu.be/Shx_WHTVF3g Here are several freeze-dryers I use in my business and I would recommend considering them for your existing freeze-dried business or just starting out. - Harvest Right Freeze Dryers - https://affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html - StayFresh Freeze Dry - https://stayfreshfreezedry.com/?sca_ref=3292008.4uBi4MIG3W&sca_source=YouTube A new freeze-dryer manufacturer called Blue Alpine Freeze Dryers could be another alternative to purchase for your business, I do not own one of these freeze-dryer currently so I don't have any direct experience with the machine: https://bluealpinefreezedryers.com/thefreezedriedbusiness Here are other tools I use for my freeze-dried business:
View Video Transcript
0:00
if you're looking for something fun
0:01
creative and new to do with your freeze
0:04
dryer this coming Halloween I've got a
0:06
great recipe and idea for you let's get
0:08
to this video and I'll show you all
0:09
about it
0:12
hey I'm David with the freeze dry
0:14
business Channel I own a freeze-dried
0:15
business in Idaho and today I'm going to
0:17
be using my potato slicer to cut my
0:20
apples into fries so they're bite-sized
0:22
pieces that are really fun to look at
0:24
but this time I'm going to drizzle
0:26
caramel over top of the apples and
0:28
caramel in the freeze dryer as some of
0:31
you know or if you're new to freeze
0:32
drying it pops and changes its texture
0:35
from chewy to crunchy and so we're going
0:37
to experiment to see if the freeze-dried
0:39
apples and the caramel creates a really
0:41
tasty crunchy bite that's going to be a
0:43
hit for your Halloween season now before
0:45
we start cutting the apples and getting
0:47
this recipe of this video please hit the
0:49
Subscribe button and if you're new here
0:51
turn on the Bell notification so that
0:53
you get notified every video I come out
0:55
with and that way you're well informed
0:57
of all the videos and information that
0:58
I'm producing for the freeze dry
1:00
business Community now I'm doing this
1:01
video and this recipe in my kitchen
1:03
today just so I could test it out to see
1:05
how it actually turns out but I wanted
1:07
to show you the fry slicer now this is
1:09
linked in my video description of this
1:11
video as well as you can check out the
1:12
freeze drying apples video that I
1:14
produced but normally you put a potato
1:18
in this area and then you slide this
1:21
lever through and it actually produces
1:24
these fry slices out of here now I
1:26
really like these because it creates
1:28
more of a bite size bite and it creates
1:31
a little bit more of a different texture
1:32
than just using the ring type slicer
1:34
that you normally accustomed to seeing
1:35
with cutting apples now I've got my five
1:39
freeze dryer trays from the Harvest ride
1:41
I'm going to use the Harvest Right
1:42
freeze dryer for this episode right now
1:44
and I'm also going to use these gritted
1:46
grates from Frozen right they fit
1:48
perfectly in the Harvest Right trays and
1:51
this just eliminates the chance that the
1:53
fries will actually stick to the pan
1:56
from freezing and freeze drying so I
1:58
just want to eliminate that it's worked
1:59
well for the strawberries so far and now
2:01
I'm going to try it out with apples if
2:03
you want to check those out I've got a
2:04
link in the description of this video
2:06
now I've also got the schmuckers caramel
2:08
and I didn't want to go with the caramel
2:10
syrup this time I wanted to be more of a
2:12
pure caramel now I could have melted
2:14
some caramels but I wanted to try this
2:16
for the first time with this recipe so
2:18
I'm using the Smuckers caramel flavor
2:20
topping I've also got my washed apples
2:23
both Gala and Granny Smith so I've got
2:26
all these different tools now let's go
2:28
ahead and get the apples sliced in the
2:30
fry slicer all right so this fry slicer
2:32
is actually really easy to use you
2:34
literally put it down on the counter and
2:37
it has these suction cups down below
2:39
here and that way it doesn't move
2:40
because they're going to create quite a
2:42
bit of pressure getting the Apple
2:44
through this slicer right here to create
2:46
those apple fritters all right we've got
2:48
everything in place let's go ahead and
2:49
get to slicing the apples this is a
2:52
really great device it creates a really
2:53
slick fries and you just voila you've
2:56
got apple fries now I do like taking out
2:58
the core pieces from the apple and you
3:01
have to be quick about this just because
3:02
you're if you're worried about Browning
3:04
the apples with the air I do about three
3:06
or four apples then I take it
3:08
immediately to the freezer so what I do
3:10
with these core slices right here is I
3:13
just kind of set them aside because I
3:14
don't want to waste them but I'm just
3:15
going to do all of the about 3 three or
3:18
four gala apples right now right with
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this fry slicer and the reason I like
3:23
the fry slicer is because it just
3:25
creates some bite-sized bites and then
3:28
also with this recipe since I'm going to
3:30
be putting some caramel over it I think
3:32
it's going to be really nice to just
3:33
kind of have a nice crunchy caramel base
3:37
over top of it and not feel like you
3:38
have to bite down on the entire apple or
3:42
uh that kind of twirl rounded type of
3:45
thing that you're normally used to to to
3:47
doing and when I was growing up my mom
3:50
did a lot of canning and we we went out
3:52
to some Orchards close to here in town
3:55
where I'm at we're in Boise Idaho and we
3:59
used to do a lot of different uh prep
4:01
for different types of foods and so
4:03
apples was definitely one of them and we
4:06
would use the core to do that so we
4:09
create these kind of circled slices so
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again I'm just setting aside the core
4:13
pieces for now and just keeping kind of
4:15
the nice ones that doesn't have those
4:17
core areas in them and as you can see at
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the tray right now I really like this
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grated little grid that keeps it kind of
4:24
above the freeze drying tray and we've
4:26
got plenty on here so what I'm going to
4:28
do now is I'm going to take that
4:30
Smuckers caramel and I'm going to open
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it up and I've already kind of shaken it
4:35
up a little bit and what I'm going to do
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is I'm just going to take a spoonful and
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I'm just going to kind of draw a little
4:42
bit now it is going to create some
4:46
um probably some stickiness and a mess
4:49
once I have to try to actually clean
4:52
this but I wanted to just kind of take a
4:54
spoon and just kind of drizzle it around
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because I didn't want to put too much of
4:58
a layer on I love caramel I wanted to do
5:01
enough of this so that each fry kind of
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got some type of caramel so we're going
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to be quick about this because like I
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said I want to make sure that the apples
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don't get too much air to them prior to
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me putting them in the freezer and then
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that way it kind of cuts short on the
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amount of freeze-dried time so that's a
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good amount of caramel I'm going to
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leave that there we're going to put this
5:23
in the freezer and then we're going to
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do the Granny Smith apples all right now
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we're going to move on to the Granny
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Smith apples this is the fun part
5:31
[Music]
5:37
um
5:52
[Music]
5:57
all right here's the Granny Smith apples
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now that we've done all the slicing that
6:00
was four apples I'm gonna take the
6:02
caramel and I'm gonna kind of drizzle it
6:04
and you can be probably as generous as
6:06
you want I'm really curious how these
6:08
will turn out I think it's going to be
6:10
great because I know that caramel if you
6:13
do like where there's caramels or even
6:15
if you do the caramel M Ms or you do
6:17
anything if you're new to freeze drying
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caramel pops and changes its texture and
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makes it more crunchy so I know it's
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going to be crunchy I'm just curious
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kind of how the the look of It kind of
6:29
the look appeal will be with apples and
6:33
then the caramel as well because I'm
6:35
still going to freeze dry these apples
6:39
at 125 degrees that's normally what I do
6:43
any type of fruit at the drying
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temperature
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so I'm still going to do that normally
6:48
with candy and with caramel I would
6:50
probably do the temperature at 140
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degrees because that kind of seems like
6:56
the heat that you need for candy I'm
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going to do these Apple trays to start
6:59
at the temperature that I do for fruit
7:01
instead so we'll see how that does okay
7:03
so this is the Granny Smith one I'm
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going to go ahead and make my other
7:06
trays and what I'm going to do is I'm
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going to make one other tray
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that doesn't have caramel on it until
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we've pre-freeze it and so when I take
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it out of the freezer that's when I'll
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put the caramel on so I'm going to kind
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of see how both do with it being kind of
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soaked in as it freezes and then other
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one as it's put on prior to freeze
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drying hey the freeze drying process is
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done now I use my home freeze dryer
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which I have this Harvest Right large
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freeze dryer I've had this for a while
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and I use it for experiments with
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different things that I'm trying in my
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freeze drying business as well as this
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YouTube channel the cycle time for these
7:40
freeze-dried caramel apple fries it says
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on the screen it ran under about 40
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hours which is a little bit longer than
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I would have thought because ambient
7:48
temperature right now at the first of
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September has been around 70 75 degrees
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in my garage in the winter time it runs
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a lot shorter so I would expect it to
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run about 32 hours so the ambient
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temperature in your garage or
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environment wherever you're doing freeze
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drying is really indicative of whether
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you're going to have a quick freeze
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drying process or a much longer freeze
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drying process so in the winter time I
8:10
see a lot more shorter Cycles maybe
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around 24 to 32 hours for fruit even if
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I'm up to the maximum which is around 14
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to 15 pounds of fruit that I've seen
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done in my large Harvest Right freeze
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dryer all right so I already warmed up
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the tray so now let's get the caramel
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apple fries out let's do some taste
8:28
tests and see how it all looks from a
8:29
texture scent all right here's the
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caramel apple fries now as you can see
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in the screen right here the bubbles
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that you're seeing is the caramel and
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some of it popped really high I think
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just due to the amount of caramel that I
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put on it and other times it kind of
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lies in a little bit smaller form all
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right so now the big taste test I've
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never done this before so this is the
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first try let's see how it actually
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tastes with caramel and a freeze-dried
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apple one of these let's give it a taste
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test
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wow that is great here's the caramel
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right here
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you can actually really taste the
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caramel this is actually really good
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well after several bites this tastes
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actually really good I can taste the
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caramel it's still crunchy and it tastes
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crunchy on the apples as well now you
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might be asking what's the difference
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between kind of a crunchy apple that's
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fresh versus a crunchy apple that's
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freeze-dried well the freeze-dried
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apples are really crunchy so you kind of
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get two things at once you get the
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crunchiness of caramel so it doesn't
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stick to your teeth and you get the
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crunchiness of the Apple so the big
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difference in freeze drying apples and
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the caramel is both are going to be
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crunchy and it's a totally different way
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to enjoy caramel apples now I'm actually
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curious how this will fit in one of my
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bags that I sell to customers so let's
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go ahead and get one of my bags I want
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to see how the caramel and the apples
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fit into the bag whether it crumbles
9:51
into more of a dust or if it stays
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intact and how many you can actually fit
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in there
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okay so now we've got the apple fries in
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here and in my kitchen I did want to
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check to see how much once I weigh the
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bags in my bag I wanted to see how much
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they weigh so I've got my scale here and
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then I've got one of my bags for my
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business that I'm going to see how much
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we could fit in here this is just for
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testing purposes now they are kind of
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crushing as you can see into a little
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bit more powder so it's going to really
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depend on whether the caramel stuck to
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the outside of the Apple versus these
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bigger bubbles that just burst that's
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going to become more of the crumble as
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I'm already seeing and most of these
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actually do have caramel on them so I'm
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going to weigh it real quick
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and that comes actually
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I'm going to put one a couple more into
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and that's an ounce all right so it's
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kind of hard to see in this camera angle
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but in my window of my bags right here
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you can see the caramel that is textured
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as a more of a crunchy overlay over top
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of these apple fries so this is actually
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looking pretty presentable just as
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apples and then people are going to
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wonder what's over top of it well once
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they hit the caramel it's going to taste
11:00
really good all right so also I wanted
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to show you these grates that Frozen
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right made so as you can see it lifts
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completely out of this tray and then it
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kind of keeps all of your fries and
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fruit in one con intact part and then we
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can just kind of Simply kind of pop them
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off of the tray if you're interested in
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these grates go ahead and hit up the
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video description and I've got a link
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there to Frozen right for you to use hey
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a couple observations that you could do
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for your next batch of freeze-dried
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caramel apples as well as things that I
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might do if you see these larger bubbles
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of caramel that just means you put a
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large amount of caramel on that area
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which could be a nice little surprise
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for people that are going to bite down
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on that freeze dry caramel apple but
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also you could just drizzle a little bit
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smaller amounts too but maybe there's
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just not as much the caramel that hits
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that's one thing that I did notice so
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you might want to just do a bunch of
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them with a lot of caramel and maybe
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there's not as many but it did taste
11:58
more caramel with apple the larger
12:00
amount of caramel that was actually on
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there so it's really up to you second
12:04
thing that I might do is try doing the
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freeze-dried apples first and then
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layering on the caramel and put it on
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Candy mode at 140 degrees and that way
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you can do a large batch of apples and
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then have that stock up and then you
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could do the caramel as you start
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needing to bag it instead of doing it
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the other way now I'm not quite sure if
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the moisture from the caramel will
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impact the already freeze-dried fries
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but that is something maybe you might
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want to try overall though I thought the
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caramel apple fries tasted really good
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you definitely can taste the caramel and
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the app Bowl so try the freeze dry
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caramel apple fries as you're heading
12:38
into Halloween or anytime you're looking
12:40
for a brand new product hey if you could
12:41
do me a favor hit the like button if
12:43
you're going to try the freeze dry
12:44
caramel apple fries from watching this
12:46
video also hit subscribe if you want to
12:48
see more freeze drying videos we'll see
12:50
you next time on the freeze dry business
12:51
Channel cheers
12:56
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