My name's Jack. In 2011 I started Aspen Crunch from a high school class with the dream to cook the world's most unique, healthy, and gourmet snacks each and every day.

What a journey it's been. Inspired by the education Aspen Crunch gave me, we continue to be run by Aspen High School student interns who're developing skills to launch their own ideas. I'm excited just thinking of what they'll build!

For every order placed, you can ensure I will be in the kitchen working hard to send you the highest quality snacks with the most amazing flavors. We hope you'll give us a try!

Batch-Crafted at Under 118°F

Aspen Crunch specializes in batch-crafted artisanal healthy snacks, dehydrated at under 118°F. When cooking our ingredients, we take delicate care to preserve their nutritional value while bringing out their intense flavors. We love dehydration because it keeps the ingredients’ nutritional profile intact, making the healthiest and most artistic way to make snacks.

Dehydrated foods are ideal for healthy snacking at home or on the go, for the adventure seeker in need of an energy-boosting snack, and the home chef eager to dive into the wonderful health benefits of fruits, vegetables, super berries and more.

How Dehydration Works

Dehydration uses gentle temperatures (90-118°F), minimally elevated over a long period of time to remove moisture from food. In order for a food to qualify as dehydrated, 95% of its moisture must be removed. Aspen Crunch has less than 1% water content in its snacks. 

Dehydration is a delicate process where original water and sugar content, surface area, temperature and humidity, and molecular gastronomy are all taken into account. When creating a new snack, we go through dozens of iterations before landing on the perfect combination of thickness and size of each slice, and the temperature at which the dehydrator is set. The end result is a perfectly dehydrated snack full of intense flavor and optimal texture.

Some people ask, is dehydration new? The answer: no. In fact, it's the oldest known method of food preservation and the preferred method used by Aspen Crunch to make all of our tasty, nutritional snacks.

Molecular gastronomy is fun. Some define molecular gastronomy as the art & science of choosing, preparing, and eating good food. Others have defined molecular gastronomy as the scientific study of flavor. 

Why is Aspen Crunch interested in molecular gastronomy?

Molecular gastronomy explains the chemical reasons behind ingredients. Since the aroma of foods are so important to our perception, we may come up with the following conclusions: If the major volatile molecules of foods are the same, they might taste (and smell) nice when eaten together.

Basic Concepts

80% of a tasting experience comes from smell. Only 20% of the tasting experience comes from taste. Our tongue has about 9,000 taste buds that are capable of detecting sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes. In comparison, we have around 5-10 million cells or receptors capable of detecting smell.