I love to try new things, and I like to try to make things myself as much as possible. Well, sometimes I win, sometimes I lose in that endeavor. My hubby and I love gummy bears, and I got it into my head that I wanted to make them at home. After searching high and low for a recipe that used fruit juice instead of a sugary Jello mix, I finally found one. The ingredients were simple: unflavored gelatin, fruit juice, and a bit of honey. That sounded great so I got my candy molds out and made the first batch. They looked lovely and set nicely so I got very excited. After popping them out of their mold, I popped one right in my mouth. Yuck! They were tasteless and rubbery, like a super tough Jello Jiggler of my childhood. Hubby tested it out and in his words, “It is kinda like chewing on a tire.” Fail. Not one to give up easily I modified the recipe to use fruit juice concentrate to bump up the flavor and added in some sugar. Once again they looked fabulous! Taking them out of the molds I was again hopeful, however, my hopes were quickly dashed when I put one in my mouth. While the flavor was much better it still had that super rubbery Jiggler texture that I could not get past; nothing like a store bought gummy. Alas, I think the gummies have me beat but at least I tried. You never know until you try. Now I am looking forward to my next Trader Joe’s shopping trip because they have the absolute best gummy bears made with fruit juice. I guess I will leave the gummy bear making to the experts.
6:11 pm on December 17th, 2011
Hehe! Bummer! That would have been awesome! But I, too, have come to the conclusion that some things are better store bought. But only a very, veeerrry, very, very few.
And I gotta say, even attempting home-made gummies is pretty awesome.
9:31 pm on December 17th, 2011
Oh….say it isn’t so!!! I was so excited about your endevour. Big Bummer…but if I know you at all, I’m not convinced this will be that last I hear of the great gummy bear adventure.
11:28 am on December 19th, 2011
Oh, I just hate it when things don’t work out as I hope. Luckily, I’m just a couple miles from Trader Joes. I need to check out their gummi bears. I hadn’t even thought about trying to make them before!