[Tessa] Spinning the protons, [Karen] Hydrate pectin.

[Katie] Gelation, like a high methoxyl pectin.

[Karen] Texture analysis.

[Tessa] Solubility, moisture, crystallization.

[Mike] This is science, candy science.

That's usually a good conversation starter.

Hi, my name's Tessa.

I'm a candy scientist.

[Mike] A candy scientist who created a candy science business called Sprinkk.

Sprinkk is a product development lab for candy innovation.

We help people take their ideas, create them into a physical product.

A few drops of espresso.

[Mike] Clients range from individuals trying to create something from scratch to established candy companies from around the world.

We'll make samples in our lab.

We'll tinker with texture or flavor or color until you think it's just right, and then from there we'll scale it up.

[Mike] As a kid, Tessa always had candy nearby, a lot of Twizzlers, taking a little purse of candy on vacations.

She helped with her dad's construction business sometimes pretending the concrete mixer was making jelly beans instead.

And she had a passion for science.

I think I'm a natural nerd.

That I've just always been curious about how things work and how to put things together, take things apart, and I was never really told that, STEM isn't an option.

[Mike] With her master's degree in food science and technology and almost 10 years in the candy industry, she helped create a lot of candy you'd recognize, Tessa returned home to Nebraska to create this.

(bright upbeat music) I started Sprinkk to allow people to create new things, to bring those ideas that they have and allow them to come to life in the candy industry.

♪ Yeah ♪ -This one's heavy.

-Okay.

Perfect.

[Mike] Any day you'll see lots happening here, like new equipment arriving.

So, this is our new taffy equipment.

There's a candy cutter in here.

This is like Christmas.

(laughs) Nichole manages the candy products they're developing, like pre-exercise, vitamin-infused gummies Katie is working on.

We're trying to get it to be a firmer gummy versus it's been turning out a little bit soft for what we think the client wants.

We're adding more pectin because there could be not enough pectin compared to all the actives that are in this gummy.

Okay, so this is our texture analyzer.

We use this to measure the firmness and the springiness of a gummy.

We use it to simulate chewing.

Different ingredients interact differently with one another.

Sometimes if we have more gelatin, the gummy might be more firm and bouncy.

Sometimes if we have more pectin, it can be much softer.

Starch gummies can be very soft and very sticky.

So, water activity is a measurement that we use for making sure that the candy is shelf stable.

It's a food safety measurement.

So, water activity will allow mold to grow if it's too high.

Is a lot of what you're doing, looking at the amounts of water and things?

It is something that we control throughout the process.

[Mike] Lots of science in all this.

[Tessa] I think even food scientists are often surprised at the amount of chemistry that goes into candy.

[Mike] Of course, we couldn't be here without picking flavors and making some candy.

We have a whole slew of different stuff on hand.

Vanilla ice cream, key lime pie.

-Apples, some pomegranate.

-Got some exotic flavors.

Tropical flavors.

This is hard.

-We have- -Pickles.

-Pickles.

-Pickles.

That's a good one.

(chuckles) That could be interesting.

Yeah.

All right, let's do that.

What are we making?

This is our hard candy.

We cook this up to 290 degrees.

See if we can't keep it from flowing off the table.

Off the thing.

So, the starting point of this is what?

[Tessa] This is sugar and corn syrup and water.

[Mike] Okay.

We're just trying to get it to cool as evenly.

-Okay.

-As possible.

So, we're just gonna fold it so we get the hot side folded in and expose new surfaces.

I'm actually gonna have you add -your pickle flavor.

-Okay.

It smells very pickly.

[Tessa] A few drops of green food coloring.

This is just citric acid.

And this acid just adds some tartness to it.

[Mike] Okay.

Now, just, kind of, stir it together in there.

Ooh, that's pickly.

(chuckles) Ooh.

It smells like pickles.

It's very pickly.

Like, really pickly.

I'm gonna have you start mixing it that way.

Just keep it- Away from you.

(laughs) You just want it away from you?

As it hit that high-temperature candy, you're getting a flash of those volatile components.

That's what we were smelling.

[Mike] It takes patience with this, doesn't it?

It does.

I think, you're probably ready to a point where you can start to pull it.

Grab the ends of it and just pull it out.

There you go.

And then fold it back together.

Pull it back together quick before it Yup.

(laughs) You know, if we pull it a lot and we get a lot of air bubbles in there, it makes it easier to chew.

It's less dense.

What we're doing now with this under the hot light is we're trying to keep it above the glass transition temperature.

-Okay.

-All right.

-There you go.

-There we go.

Come on.

As soon as it goes through, we want it to drop below the glass transition temperature so that we can turn it into (candy shatters) a glass.

(candy shattering) It's candy.

All right.

Pickles?

[Tessa] Very dilly.

[Mike] That's a lot of pickle.

Mm-hmm.

Tastes just like it.

Mm-hmm.

Well, you got to taste right.

Sweet pickles.

(Tessa and Mike laughing) (glass shatters) Another part of Sprinkk is a couple hours away in Tessa's hometown, a small factory in a building that was part of the family's construction business.

What's the purpose of this for Sprinkk?

This is truly what fills the gap between what we do in the lab in Omaha and full-scale manufacturing.

We can do small batches here.

[Mike] Friends and family helped build this.

Same with the fruit snacks they're making today.

Oh, Grandma Norma's here.

Absolutely stunning.

[Mike] Norma, with a passion for natural wellness, makes syrup from her elderberry trees.

And as time went on, I thought, "This would really be nice if we could put this in gummies of some way."

[Mike] Tessa took the syrup recipe and transformed it into Norma's Fruit Snacks.

We just started the elderberry, a batch of elderberry.

(Norma clapping) I think a lot of my creativity comes from her roots down through that side of the family.

That's the original.

(laughs) [Mike] What was it like working with your granddaughter on a project like this?

I'm gonna have- Beautiful.

Beautiful.

It really has humbled me.

Can you get both of us in the picture?

[Cameraman] Yeah.

Oh, I told him just to zoom in on you.

[Mike] Norma's Snacks manufacturing started in an Albion church kitchen before this was built.

It's a product they sell that also helps Sprinkk test its business model.

So, Norma's being a client of Sprinkk allows me to step into the shoes of the things that our clients are seeing, of starting up a company, going through retailers, figuring out packaging, figuring out the shelf life and different things about the product.

I get to experience that through the Norma's brand.

Cheers our bees?

Cheers.

(bright upbeat music) [Mike] Family is a big reason Tessa came back and opened her quickly-growing business in Nebraska.

It's so fun to be able to show it off, finally.

[Mike] For lots of open-house visitors, including a niece and nephew and her mom.

We should try it, look at all these cool candies.

Is it good?

Mm.

I'm curious, as a kid, was she a candy junkie?

Yes and no.

But she's always been a creator.

If you're looking to start a candy company or if you have a candy company and you're looking to create something new, you can find- [Mike] Biggest disaster that you ever had to deal with?

She tried to make edible tape a lot.

So, she would try melting cheese or she would try melting marshmallows and, you know, making it into, like, little band-aid-looking things and didn't ever work.

Other people are like, "Wow, how do you think like this?

How do you work like this?"

But, to us, it's just part of her.

So, what did you tell him?

Did you tell him good things?

Sure.

(Tessa chuckling) I didn't say anything bad.

Did I?

What is there bad to say?

She made a lot of messes.

I won't deny that.

[Mike] Science can be messy.

Sometimes experiments don't work, but when all the ingredients come together, magic happens.

Like the mixture of scientific interest, love of candy, and endless ideas that was young Tessa.

It would eventually create this.

If you would've told 10-year-old Tessa that she could be a scientist making gummies for a living and get paid for it, would've never believed it.

But it's a dream job.

(scientists laughing) -That felt good.

-Yeah.