Mobirise

Gummy bear army

Aronia Gummies

These are serious gummies. These are NOT the lame jello gummies you see in all the Internet recipes. These are shelf-stable like the real thing. This takes some precision, but it is doable, if you know the secret. (Yes, the secret is below if that wasn't obvious.)

Ingredients

  • 16 sheets leaf gelatin
    This is critical. Don't try this with powdered gelatin. We had 14 failed attempts to prove powdered gelatin won't work. You need leaf gelatin, which comes in a clear translucent sheet.  You can't get leaf gelatin at a grocery store, you'll have to order it online. 
  • 110 grams ice cold water
  • 215 grams of corn syrup
  • 260 grams of granulated sugar 
  • 50 grams of concentrated Aronia juice
    We take regular aronia juice and cook it down to one-fourth the volume. You could make the recipe with regular Aronia juice, but the gummies won't have as much flavor. 
  • 2 grams of citric acid
  • 9 grams of cinnamon (optional)
    The cinnamon will overpower the aronia. So we don't recommend it if you want pure aronia flavor. But some folks like cinnamon bears, so this variation does work. 
  • Silicon molds in whatever shape you want
    We like bears! But don't get those teeny "dropper" size bear molds. You need something bigger. You want each gummy to be at least as big as half your pinky finger.

Steps

1

BLOOM

Put the gelatin sheets in a bowl. Pour the water over. Keep an eye on this as you move to the next steps. Push and adjust the sheets so they all get a chance to absorb the water. This will take a few minutes.
2

HEAT

Cook the mixture of juice, syrup and sugar in a 1.5 or 2 quart pot. You will want a candy thermometer. The goal is to get the mixture to get to 278 degrees Fahrenheit. In practice, it's hard to get this precise. We screw this up all the time, but the gummies still work. So if your thermometer suddenly reads 284, don't panic. It will probably still work fine. Once it gets to temperature, take the pot off the burner. 
3

MELT

Once the gelatin has absorbed all the water put it on a double boiler (look it up if you have not done this... it's not hard) on the stove under low heat until the gelatin melts to a liquid. You want it to melt, not boil.     
4

WAIT

Wait for the sugar mixture to cool to 242 degrees. This takes patience. Wait. Again if you miss it by a few degrees, it will still work. When it gets to 242, add the citric acid, cinnamon (optional) and melted gelatin. Mix it thoroughly with a wooden spoon. If you fail to fully mix, some gummies will be rocks and others will be jelly. 
5

MOLD

Now you have to work kinda fast. You only have a few minutes until the mixture is too cold to pour. We highly recommend a confectionary funnel. They are only $10-15 bucks, but they allow you to dispense the goo with precision and speed. Either way, fill your silicon molds... hurry!
6

COOL and COOL

If you were perfect, your gummies will pop out of the mold after a few hours of cooling. We are never perfect, which means the gummies might be too goey to come out of the molds cleanly. So here is our secret trick. After cooling, put the molds in the freezer. Once hard, the gummies will pop out nicely. 
7

SUGAR

As soon as the gummies come out of the mold, roll them in a bowl of sugar. Again, you don't have to do this, but if you don't they will probably be super sticky and never come off your hands.  Once sugared, they are easily handled.