A Greenville mom transformed her hobby into Wisconsin's largest selection of freeze-dried goods
GREENVILLE - Walking into Tria's Frog Treats can awaken the candy-loving child in anyone. The shelves and racks are stocked with a large variety of name-brand sweets, treats and even savory vegetable snacks, but there's something that makes them more unique than those you can purchase at any store; all of these products are freeze dried.
When Tricia Hermsen first started making freeze-dried goods for her family and friends, she never imagined that in just a year she would be selling them out of her own storefront, let alone distributing them across the U.S.
What started as a simple hobby, and an effort to find ways to minimize food waste in her home, became Hermsen's full-time job and passion.
Now, Tria's Frog Treats, N1788 Lily of the Valley Drive, Suite G, is self-proclaimed Wisconsin's largest selection of freeze-dried goods with over 180 products.
The reversal of one Wisconsin law accelerated the opening of Tria's Frog Treats
Hermsen first began freeze-drying foods at home in 2022, after coming across a Facebook post about the process.
"I was like 'no way you can buy a freeze dryer for home', I was freaking out," Hermsen said. "I bought one and started doing celery, carrots and onions."
After doing some research about candy would react to the freeze dryer best, Hermsen added sweets to the growing inventory of freeze-dried foods in her home.
By November 2022, Hermsen had decided to turn her hobby into a small business, but first she had to ensure she had the proper permits.
Under the Wisconsin Cottage Food law, business owners can sell food products directly to consumers from homes, farmer's markets and community events. On Dec. 28, 2022 a Wisconsin judge ruled in favor of expanding the law to include selling food products that do not go in the oven. Freeze-dried treats fall under this category.
"That ruling came down and my friend messaged me to tell me I can sell my freeze-dried candy," Hermsen said. "Two weeks later, we were up and running from our home."
By January 2023, Hermsen was selling her freeze-dried candy to friends, family and customers through Facebook and seeing some success. She wanted to jump right into wholesale but needed a commercial kitchen, and a food truck does not qualify.
"I thought, 'well what if I get a food truck and put the freeze-dryer in there?'" Hermsen said."I couldn't do that, but I still liked the idea of being mobile and not just selling on Facebook."
Hermsen and her husband purchased the Frog Treats food truck, becoming Wisconsin's first freeze-dried candy food truck. In April, it joined the Fox Valley Food Truck Association (FVFTA).
The name of the business is a combination of Hermsen's nickname and her favorite animal. The vibrant blue and purple colors painted on the eye-catching truck are her favorites.
"At first I think people were hesitant, like, how was a freeze-dried candy business going to compete with, say, an ice cream truck or anything else like that," Hermsen said.
The food truck was in service for just about a month when the ruling which allowed Hermsen to be able to sell her freeze-dried candy was reversed.
"I was literally finishing up an event when I got the news that we had to cease selling all of our freeze-dried stuff," Hermsen said. "At that point we had to make a decision, either go commercial or completely stop."
One month later, Hermsen signed the lease for the Tria's Frog Treats storefront in Greenville, which officially opened in July.
With the storefront, Hermsen was able to expand her products, offering freeze-dried ice cream, cheesecake, pickles, pickle chips, cheese curds, and more.
The shop also has a gift-giving station where customers can purchase unique candles and mugs, handmade by Hermsen, cards and gift bags.
Freeze-dried products have a unique, crunchy texture
Hermsen's freeze-dried foods are made by rapidly freezing them, then vacuuming out the moisture which intensifies the flavor.
Hermsen said food and candy freeze dry very differently. Food is frozen to 10 below zero, once it reaches that temperature it goes into a vacuum cycle followed by a drying cycle.
For candy, the freeze dryer temperature drops to zero, heaters immediately turn on to warm the sugars followed by the vacuum. This process is what makes the candy puff up.
Hermsen said different foods take varying times to dry, corn typically takes about 24 hours while pineapple can take up to 60 hours due to its water content.
"Candy is going to be light, airy and crunchy," Hermsen explained. "Freeze-dried candy is never chewy, if it is, it's not done. Cheesecake is going to be a denser crunch. Ice cream bars are nice and fluffy and then it turns to cream in your mouth."
Items like pickle chips, cheese curds and veggies are crunchier and have intensified flavors.
Since most of the products at Frog Treats are name-brand candies, Hermsen orders the products in bulk and freeze-dries them in the store.
"The only things I will say that we mix up or have a recipe for is our corn because we flavor it with different seasonings," Hermsen said. "We also make our own Sour Skittles. Other than that, we source and buy all of our products."
People travel across the state for Tria's Frog Treats
Not only can Frog Treats be purchased in person at the shop, but the website allows customers all across the U.S. to place orders for shipping.
At the beginning of this year, Hermsen was able to partner with Birdseye Dairy in Howard to wholesale her products to locations across Wisconsin. Frog Treats can be found in 23 locations across the state including gas stations and grocery stores. A full list of where to find the products can be found on the Frog Treats website.
Customers can also find the freeze-dried food brand on Amazon.
"We sell our cheesecakes, a few ice creams and our cheese curds and cubes on Amazon," Hermsen said.
This month, Frog Treats was added to Doordash, giving locals the opportunity to have the products delivered to their doorstep the same day.
Hermsen said the remainder of the year is going to be very busy with over 80 events booked for the business across the state.
"Some events we are doing are Strawberry Fest, Oktoberfest, License to Cruise and Wine and Harvest Fest," Hermsen said. "Along with some of those we are doing Greenville youth sports and a lot of community work as well."
The Frog Treats food truck will be part of the FVFTA again this summer, from April to the end of August.
Hermsen said support from her local community and beyond inspires her to continue her craft.
"People come from all over the state, people will tell me they drove two hours or more and I'll instantly start crying," Hermsen said. "It means so much, when you put your heart and soul into something, it means so much that people are willing to take time out of their day to be apart of it."
For more information visit triafrogtreats.com or follow its Facebook page.
Reach Jelissa Burns at 920-453-5107 or jburns1@gannett.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @burns_jelissa or on Instagram at burns_jelissa.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Tria's Frog Treats is Wisconsin's largest selection of freeze-dried goods
