Nana Beall’s Sweet Treats
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Tina Beall with her Sweet Treats Business.
Lester Beall shows a container of Candies that have been freeze dried and puffed up into Nana Beall’s Sweet Treats
Tina Beall’s love of freeze-dried Skittles has led to a unique Dundy County business.
Nana Beall’s Sweet Treat takes store bought candies and then freeze dries them, making them into a new type of candy. In the beginning, Tina bought a freeze dryer to start making the tasty treat for herself, and then she started making all sorts of candies.
Tina explains that candy of pretty much any type goes into the freeze drier, and the freeze drier pulls the moisture out and puffs up the candy so it becomes more of an airy candy instead of a crunchy or chewy candy. The marshmallow-type candies take about four hours to freeze dry, and the gummy and chewy candies take 8-12 hours to dry.
Beall explained that freeze-drying the hard candies took a bit longer to perfect and that she has to soften them in the oven and then put them right into the freeze-dryer. Tina has three freeze driers; two four trays, and the other has six shelves.
Tina’s husband Lester sells the Harvest Right Freeze Driers through his Pleasant Creek Arms business. Tina and her husband Lester say the Nerd Clusters and Skittles are their best sellers.
Running under the Nebraska Cottage laws, she can take her Sweet Treats to craft fairs and area events; as long it comes directly from her, she can sell it, but she can’t set up a display and leave it somewhere in a store. The Cottage Laws prevent the Bealls from freeze-drying fruits, which they have many requests for. “Once you cut the fruit, it can be contaminated, so we can’t sell that.”
Tina says that the venture has gone really well so far, “Much Better than I thought it would.” To support local businesses, Tina gets her labels made by Don Davis, and Jeremy Borchard is checking into one of his suppliers to try and get packaging bags for her.
A lot of her candy comes from Dollar General. Tina is employed full-time by Pinnacle Bank, and her husband Lester helps quite a bit on weekends. Tina says she is enjoying it so far, “It’s a lot of work. I come home from work and then go back to work on this.”
If you want Nana Beall to set up her Sweet Treats at your next event, you can call or text her. You can also order the sweet treats directly from her.
Congratulations, Beall’s!
