Liam Hughes
Active Member
Continuing from my previous thread, I have a cup of tincture that is my first ingredient for making gummy bears, but first I need to make my 'bloom'. Using the original recipe from the MBM2 YouTube page (for some reason they've made a slight change where they don't add the extra tablespoon of honey when adding the flavour extract...I like using it as there isn't much of anything in the pan at this point, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Here is the list of ingredients and quantities required to make a batch of gummy bears:
4 packages of flavoured Jello 3 oz each
2.5 oz. Non-flavoured gelatin
1 cup of cold, pure fruit juice - Not from concentrate.
Its important that water is not an ingredient.
1/2 cup of honey and 1 tablespoon for later. No citrus juice or pineapple. Cherry or berry juices are best.
1 tablespoon citric acid powder
1/2 oz flavour extract.
First I create my bloom. Combine all the Jello, gelatin and citric acid in a large glass bowl and whisk together until well blended. In a separate glass bowl, combine one cup of cold fruit juice and 1/2 cup of honey and whisk until honey liquifies and blends with the juice. Add the juice/honey mixture to the Jello bowl and blend well. After thoroughly melding the ingredients, set aside to allow the mixture to bloom. Blooming means that the mixture will set and gel, so it's not a fluid, but still pours.
While the ingredients are blooming, in a small non-stick pot that has a narrow mouth and is deep, I begin to reduce my tincture on the stove at low heat. I have an old coil element stove top that I set the heat to just under 4. You are burning off the alcohol, leaving a molasses looking, small pile of black tar. This usually takes about 20 minutes or so. Do not use open flame as you're using hi-test alcohol that can explode if sparks or open flame are present. I also turn the fan on throughout the reduction. Add the flavour extract (I use LorAnn oils from Amazon or Bulk Barn) and the tablespoon of honey and reduce that back down to the tar state. At this point, add the bloom and mix thoroughly on med-low heat for 7-10 minutes or until everything is blended to a smooth state.
At this point you will want to prepare your gummy bear trays or whatever shape you choose. I get mine from Amazon. A silicone sheet of 53 gummy bears is a manageable size. I find I need 7 trays. I lightly Pam the sheets, otherwise you can tear your bears apart pulling them out of the mold. I found that the most efficient way of transferring the mixture to the molds is to use a Betty Crocker silicone/plastic Turkey baster from The Dollar Store. One full baster of mixture can fill over 20 bears at once. Time is of the essence. It's imperative that you transfer fairly quickly and the mixture thickens and sets in no time. While transferring , I keep the temp on low to maintain a liquid state. If the temp is too high, the gel will set even quicker. Mixing throughout is also required to keep a liquid state. I find that I usually get about 330 bears made.
I have read a lot about mould on gummy bears. I have used this same process for at least 18 months and have never had a single one go bad. As a test, I've had a few in a baggy in my cupboard since summer 2018. They are dried out by now, but no mould.
Now that the production portion of my threads are out of the way, I'm going to turn to growing from seed, to cloning, strains I'm running, pest control, etc....
I hope my posts are informative. Please feel free to post your opinions, disagreements or kudos. If you have better methods you are superior to mine, I'd appreciate hearing them.
Here is the list of ingredients and quantities required to make a batch of gummy bears:
4 packages of flavoured Jello 3 oz each
2.5 oz. Non-flavoured gelatin
1 cup of cold, pure fruit juice - Not from concentrate.
Its important that water is not an ingredient.
1/2 cup of honey and 1 tablespoon for later. No citrus juice or pineapple. Cherry or berry juices are best.
1 tablespoon citric acid powder
1/2 oz flavour extract.
First I create my bloom. Combine all the Jello, gelatin and citric acid in a large glass bowl and whisk together until well blended. In a separate glass bowl, combine one cup of cold fruit juice and 1/2 cup of honey and whisk until honey liquifies and blends with the juice. Add the juice/honey mixture to the Jello bowl and blend well. After thoroughly melding the ingredients, set aside to allow the mixture to bloom. Blooming means that the mixture will set and gel, so it's not a fluid, but still pours.
While the ingredients are blooming, in a small non-stick pot that has a narrow mouth and is deep, I begin to reduce my tincture on the stove at low heat. I have an old coil element stove top that I set the heat to just under 4. You are burning off the alcohol, leaving a molasses looking, small pile of black tar. This usually takes about 20 minutes or so. Do not use open flame as you're using hi-test alcohol that can explode if sparks or open flame are present. I also turn the fan on throughout the reduction. Add the flavour extract (I use LorAnn oils from Amazon or Bulk Barn) and the tablespoon of honey and reduce that back down to the tar state. At this point, add the bloom and mix thoroughly on med-low heat for 7-10 minutes or until everything is blended to a smooth state.
At this point you will want to prepare your gummy bear trays or whatever shape you choose. I get mine from Amazon. A silicone sheet of 53 gummy bears is a manageable size. I find I need 7 trays. I lightly Pam the sheets, otherwise you can tear your bears apart pulling them out of the mold. I found that the most efficient way of transferring the mixture to the molds is to use a Betty Crocker silicone/plastic Turkey baster from The Dollar Store. One full baster of mixture can fill over 20 bears at once. Time is of the essence. It's imperative that you transfer fairly quickly and the mixture thickens and sets in no time. While transferring , I keep the temp on low to maintain a liquid state. If the temp is too high, the gel will set even quicker. Mixing throughout is also required to keep a liquid state. I find that I usually get about 330 bears made.
I have read a lot about mould on gummy bears. I have used this same process for at least 18 months and have never had a single one go bad. As a test, I've had a few in a baggy in my cupboard since summer 2018. They are dried out by now, but no mould.
Now that the production portion of my threads are out of the way, I'm going to turn to growing from seed, to cloning, strains I'm running, pest control, etc....
I hope my posts are informative. Please feel free to post your opinions, disagreements or kudos. If you have better methods you are superior to mine, I'd appreciate hearing them.
