Lisa Delonas turns cauliflower into an airy and crunchy snack much like popcorn. Her freeze-dried apple and pineapple pieces are transformed into confections ideal for munching on the go.

Delonas is well known in the community as the principal of Pocatello High School. For the past year, she’s also become a familiar face at farmers markets and craft shows through her side business, Lovestruck Moose.

She creates a wide variety of freeze-dried products, making fruits and vegetables into healthy, addictive treats that are convenient to store and carry. She’s also known for making actual candy into, well, even better candy.

Her top selling product is freeze-dried Skittles, which take on a light and crunchy texture after she’s finished with them.

“They’re good and kids love them,” Delonas said.

Whenever she and her family go camping, meals are quick and easy, and there’s always a wide variety of dining options. She makes dinners in advance and throws them right in the freeze dryer. Preparing homemade spaghetti with noodles and meat sauce at a camp site is as simple as adding hot water.

Delonas got into the hobby about a year ago. Her mother-in-law bought a freeze dryer, and Delonas was intrigued. On a whim, she asked her husband to get her one for Christmas, though they weren’t cheap. Large freeze dryers sell for about $4,000.

Delonas put her Christmas gift to heavy use, and friends quickly began making requests, often telling her they’d be willing to buy the freeze-dried goodies she let them sample. She also freeze dried rations for a friend making preparations to hike the Appalachian Trail.

“I thought maybe we could sell at the farmers market and pay for my machine,” Delonas said.

To keep up with demand, Delonas purchased a second machine in the spring and a third machine in the late summer. Each machine can process up to 8-gallon batches. She said she’s paid off all three machines now with profits from her business.

“It kind of grew into something really quickly that we’ve had a lot of success with,” she said.

Lovestruck moose — named in recognition of her fondness of wildlife — has become a family affair. Her husband staffed the Portneuf Valley Farmer’s Market in Pocatello throughout the season. Delonas sold at the Idaho Falls farmers market. She’s also attended various community events and craft fairs. Her grandchildren help package the products, sold in light-resistant Mylar bags for $5 each. A friend who works at New Horizons High School, Mark Daniels, designed her logo, featuring a googly-eyed moose hiking with a backpack and walking stick.

One of the benefits of freeze drying is that it preserves food without sacrificing the nutrients, Delonas said. While dehydrating depletes 40 percent of nutrients in food and canning results in a loss of 60 percent of nutrients, freeze-dried foods retain more than 98 percent of their nutrients, Delonas said. They also have a shelf life of around 25 years.

The machines freeze food to about negative 30 degrees — so cold that the moisture is expelled in a vapor form when it’s vacuumed out as the temperature slowly warms, enabling food to retain its shape.

It takes 30 to 40 hours, and a whole lot of electricity, to finish most batches.

Delonas buys locally grown fresh produce to dehydrate — including strawberries, raspberries, apples and peaches — from other farmers market vendors. She gets her candy, as well as pineapples and other fruits that don’t grow in this region, from local stores.

She develops her recipes mostly through trial and error.

“Asparagus is phenomenal,” she said, adding she hasn’t been thrilled with cucumbers, but they turn out OK when she adds dill pickle seasoning.

Leafy greens, such as kale and spinach, turn into a powder that’s ideal for adding as a nutrition booster to smoothies.

Delonas doesn’t know many others in the area offering freeze-dried snacks, but several customers have been so impressed that they’ve bought their own machines for personal use. She’s been happy to help them get started.

Though her snack foods have drawn rave reviews from customers, nobody appreciates them more than Delonas.

“I can keep a bag of pineapple in my desk or car,” Delonas said. “Who keeps pineapple in a car?”