Hot Seat: Media Monday with candy makers WODOX’s Patty Chmara-Shirley & Robert Shirley and Tim Messett from Rainbow Cupboard 10/28/25
Visit our show page for more on the Hot Seat: Media Monday. Scroll down and click on the links to watch this week’s entire interview and highlight reels.
In this episode of Hot Seat: Media Monday, local candy makers Patty Chmara-Shirley and Robert Shirley from WODOX Freeze Dried Candy in Rome and Tim Messett from Rainbow Cupboard in Clinton discuss their process for making candy, the fabulously decorated stores, and how enjoyment of candy can generate nostalgia, enhance celebrations, and bring joy.
Patty’s uncle worked for global candy giant Mars, Inc., and one of her happy childhood memories is when her grandmother made cookies with Mars’ iconic product M & Ms. She also recalled the fun she had taking her kids trick-or-treating. In that spirit, she installed a “try-before-you-buy” bar so customers could sample WODOX’s vast array of treats.
“It’s really exciting to watch people’s reaction to trying freeze-dried candy for the first time. It’s never been bad, it’s always been good,” she reports.
Tim also shared fond memories of Halloween and talked about how his store features seasonal treats. Tim, his wife Amity, and their 10 children learned their craft through trial and error, finding that “peanut and cashew clusters, anything with nuts people love. Peanut butter anything is a winner every single time.” At Rainbow Cupboard, he is always experimenting and trying to come up with new products. Almost everything goes well with chocolate, but chips can be tricky.
While certain brands of chips have a greasy quality that makes it difficult for chocolate to stick to them, Doritos work very well. Customers describe his white chocolate Doritos as “shockingly good.”
Patty and Rob have had great success at WODOX with their freeze-dried Charleston Chews, Skittles, and this year’s breakout hit, Nerd Candy Corn.
Rob explained that because candy doesn’t have as much moisture as regular food, it isn’t technically frozen, although it is put into a freeze dryer, where it is mildly heated in a vacuum chamber. This accounts for the fun pop-corn-like shapes and the unique meringue-like texture. “Between the heat and the vacuum, that’s what makes the candy expand,” Rob said.
“It totally changes the dynamic of the candy and makes the flavor more intense,” Patty said, describing how she first tried freeze-dried candy in Utah.“I just loved it and thought it was a brilliant idea and something great to bring back East.”
WODOX Freeze Dried Candy is located at 701 Erie Boulevard in Rome, phone: 315-214-9491, starting November 5th; they will be open seven days a week from 12 pm – 8 pm. WODOX is online at Wodoxny.com/ and on Facebook at WODOX Freeze Dried Candy
Rainbow Cupboard is located at 11 West Park Row in Clinton. It is open Thursday from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Friday from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, Saturday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM, and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Rainbow Cupboard is also online at Rainbowcupboard.com, Pinterest.com/rainbowcupboard/ and Iinstagram.com/Rainbow_Cupboard.
Ron Klopfanstein is an award-winning multimedia investigative journalist, news and features editor, and creative content producer for the Utica Phoenix digital platform and 95.5 FM “The Heat” broadcast and streaming. He also hosts Hot Seat: Media Monday every Monday at 5 pm, broadcast on 95.5 FM and streaming at 955TheHeat.com. Like him at Facebook.com/ReadRonKlopfanstein, Follow him at Threads.net/@RonKlopfanstein, Instagram.com/RonKlopfanstein, Twitter.com/RonKlopfanstein, Tiktok.com/@ronklopfanstein, and subscribe to his channel at YouTube.com/@RonKlopfanstein. Read all his work at Muckrack.com/ron-klopfanstein.
