Gummy Experimenting: Cherry Gummy Hearts

Cherry Gummy Hearts

Total Cook Time (with prep): about 1.5 hours

Total Cost: $2.50

Recipe Recommendation: Needs Refining

Inspired by the awe-inspiring World’s Largest Gummy Worm, I decided to finally do something I’ve long wanted to do: make my own gummy candies!  I used the recipe from this Instructables page (sans Lego mold).  We had a heart-shaped silicone muffin mold lying around so I used that.  Read on for the recipe, the cooking experience, and how the Cherry Gummy Hearts turned out.

Ingredients

• 1 package sugar-full Chery Jello ($1 for the brand name stuff, $0.80 for the store brand.  I’m a baller and went all out)
• 3 packets unflavored gelatin ($2 for 4 packets of Knox brand gelatine.  Not sure if there’s an off brand that might be cheaper)
• 1/2 cup water

Total ingredient cost: $2.50

Utensils

• Measuring cup that can go in boiling water (I used a beastly all glass 8 cup Pyrex measuring cup)
• Spatula
• Plastic Wrap
• Big pot for boiling water
• Mold of some sort for gummy shape

Directions

• Fill your measuring cup with 1/2 cup cold water.
• Slowly sprinkle in the gelatine and cherry Jello into the water.  Be sure to constantly be mixing with the spatula while sprinkling in the gelatins.  Expect lumps if you don’t.  I was constantly mixing and still ended up with a few lumps.
• Let the mixture sit a couple minutes in air.  It should take on a gritty texture, described in the Instructables post as being between a slushee and clay.
• Wrap the mixing cup with plastic wrap and let stand for 10 minutes, so the gelatin absorbs all the water.
• While the gelatin is absorbing the water in the wrapped measuring cup, get a bunch of water boiling in your big pot.  Be sure to not overfill the pot.  The measuring cup is going in here and you don’t want the pot to boil over.
• After your ten minute cure time is up and your water is boiling, place the measuring cup in the boiling water.  It is possible to put the gelatin slurry in a pan right on the stove.  However, doing it that way will expose the gummy mess to the possibility of burning.  The gummy will not burn if it is heated through the boiling water.
• The gelatin slushee will slowly melt.  It took 10-15 minutes with periodic stirring for the concoction to melt fully.  The Instructables post mentions being careful with the stirring so to not let in more air bubbles that will give your gummies an opaque color and not the semi-transparent sheen seen in commercial gummy products.  I didn’t care about color here so I went for it, stirring as much as I could to get a consistent melt.  The bubbly “cream” will settle in on the top of the goo after a minute of settling.  I was never able to get rid of it completely.
• The whole slurry will eventually completely melt, aside from some creamy portion on top, and will be hot to the touch and no longer stick in clumps to the spatula.  At this point, the gelatin slurry is ready to be poured into the molds and complete its magic transformation into gummy goodness.
• If you are an enterprising young gummy maker, you may use a syringe to only pick up and place the clear portion of the gummy concoction into the mold.  While I may know the high life of buying real Jello, I’m also a lazy SOB and just poured the gummy, cream and all, into the mold.
• I had enough to pour maybe 1/4″ into 6 mini muffin heart shaped spots in the mold.  The cream again rose to the surface of the mold, leaving an opaque cloudy texture.
• I placed the mold into the freezer for 15 minutes to congeal.  You can also leave the gummies on the counter top but it will take longer to harden up.
• While waiting for the gummies to harden, Kate found the spatula.  Sticky!
• After 15 minutes in the freezer, the gummies were freed from their silicone shackles and plated (fancylike, I might add).  There was a cloudy opaque foam on top of each treat I had difficulty removing with a blade so just left it.  You can see both the gummy side and the cloudy side below. The red gummy portion was very gummy-looking and didn’t have a bit of cloud to it.

Tasting

So how does it taste?

Like Jello.  Dense, gummy-like Jello.  The flavor is so overwhelmingly Jello-like that the gummy consistency almost doesn’t register.  The texture is certainly gummy-like, and the flavor is good, but it’s not exactly Haribo.  If I weren’t expecting gummy, I’d be very happy with this.  Expectations… they ruin everything.

Overall, this recipe didn’t work out quite like I hoped.  The Instructables page advised to add in some ground Vitamin C to add a sour taste and take away some of the Jelloness.  I still want to make my own gummies, but am not sure about the viability of this recipe.  The $1.50 in plain gelatin was pretty expensive for the quantity of gummy produced.  Unless I can find a cheaper alternative to the Knox, my next gummy experiment will be melting down commercial gummies and placing them into a honey bottle for a super gummy bear.

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