There’s something about Easter that has everyone buying and eating massive amounts of sugar. For those who are looking for a sugar-reduced, or at least, a healthier version to candy, making your gummy treats is an option. These make great DIY Easter gift basket fillers.
Mess-Free DIY Gummy Candies
Some people won’t make their own candy, worried that the process is either time consuming, or difficult. Others fear that the ingredients or tools are expensive: This version was used with a turkey baster, two Ikea ice-cube trays and some aluminium foil, and resulted in no more of a mess than if I made a gelatine dessert.
Make Candy With Everyday Kitchen Items
The Ikea ice cube trays I used were the rod-shaped “Plastis” models; however, you can use any food-grade silicone ice cube tray, or even lightly greased lollipop molds. A terrific article on making Lego™-shaped candy can be found on the Instructables page by SFhandyman.
He suggests using folding a length of aluminium foil in two to give the sheet strength, and pressing into the grooves in your toaster ovens’ rack with your fingers to create a “worm shaped” mold.
Choosing Juice for Gummy Treats
The base of these candies was an all-natural, unsweetened juice. When choosing a juice to make gummy candies, look for clarity, or at least a pleasing colour; more opaque juices will yield a cloudy-looking candy.
It’s not recommended to get a concentrate or a juice that is sweetened or contains artificial flavours or preservatives: Concentrates may have added vitamin C. Citric acid interferes with the gelling process, and the result is more like gelatine than candy. All natural juices or nectars work well for this type of candy, even if it’s a blend other juices.
Other flavours that have worked well were Strawberry-Kiwi, Apple-Berry and Cherry, and Apricot. Cherry nectar would also work well. Citrus juices like pineapple, orange or grapefruit are not really recommended, but you can experiment with it, and add more unflavoured gelatine powder to compensate.
How To Make Your Own Gummy Candy
- 6 packets of unflavoured gelatine (or, if using bulk gelatine, 6 Tablespoons)
- 2 cups of all-natural juice of your choice (I used Ceres youngberry juice)
- Fructose (granulated fruit sugar) or table sugar, to taste
- Pour the powdered gelatine in a small bowl.
- Pour the two cups of juice into a saucepan, and set it to boil for roughly twenty minutes, until it is reduced roughly to half. This concentrates the sugar, and brings the substance closer to a jam-like consistency.
- While the juice is reducing, take this time to lightly oil your trays or molds with a bit of canola or vegetable oil.
- Turn the heat off, and add the powdered gelatine, and stir, to dissolve any clumps.
- Taste the mixture, and add fruit or table sugar if necessary – some may prefer a tablespoon or two at this point. If a clear or uncoloured nectar, such as apple or litchi, take this time to add a drop or two of food colouring, if desired.
- Using a turkey baster or a candy-making syringe, fill your mold or ice cube trays. If you have neither, a steady hand and a Pyrex measuring cup will do.
- This recipe yields three “plastis” trays: make sure to fill the trays only two thirds full.
- Refrigerate for about half an hour, to make sure they are solid.
In truth, the previous recipe is more like an extra dense “Jell-O Jiggler” than a gummy candy, but the option to make a tarter, more colourful version is found in Elizabeth LaBau’s article on making sour gummies.
Making your own candy may be a great holiday craft to make with your kids, or at least a great way to surprise them. It might cost marginally more than a bag of artificially coloured and flavoured candy, but it should make you feel a bit better knowing what is in it.
Kids may even get a sense of satisfaction out of knowing they had a hand in making the candy.
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