It Is A Time For Alcohol

More confectionery experiments this weekend. This time I revisited gummies (gelatin-based). They’ve long been a bête noire of mine; my attempts have often turned into a horrific gloop of sugar and gelatin seemingly bonded at a molecular level to the pot.

But not this time! Oh no, because this time, I borrowed a trick from Heston Blumenthal, who used to serve whiskey-based gummies at The Fat Duck. His trick was to bloom the gelatin in a water bath and hold it there at a constant temperature of 60˚C right until it gets added to the sugar/glucose syrup mixture. That way the gelatin has no chance to set until you start mixing things together. Hurrah!

I started out with some gummies using Woodford Reserve. They turned out rather well:

Woodford Reserve gummy. Don't chew and drive.

A post shared by Ian Pointer (@carsondial) on Feb 17, 2017 at 3:21pm PST

They are, however, somewhat boozy. After having just one, I realized that it was a good thing that I had no plans to drive anywhere that evening. Instead, I made another batch, this time using my Helvetica mold and Pimm’s as the base spirit.

You taste like Helvetica. (Pimm's gummy)

A post shared by Ian Pointer (@carsondial) on Feb 18, 2017 at 8:10am PST

I think these have some advantages over the bourbon gummies. Firstly, you don’t feel like you need to sit down after having just one, but also the citric acid / sugar coating pretty much gives you a proper Pimm’s Cup experience.

Which is not to say that there won’t be further experiments, probably something in the realm of the Manhattan…