These homemade sour gummies are bursting with strawberry flavor from real fruit, coated with citric acid and sugar for a spectacularly sour finish.
Yield: 45 candies
Cook Time: 45 minutesminutes
Total Time: 2 hourshours
Ingredients
12ounces/ 300gfresh or frozen (and thawed) strawberries, pureed
1⅔cup/ 330ggranulated sugar* , (DO NOT reduce this!)
2tablespoons/ 44gcorn syrup
1box/ 48gregular fruit pectin, I used Sure Jell Original in the yellow box
½teaspoonbaking soda
½cup/ 120gfiltered water
¼teaspoonpowdered citric acid, dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water (or use 2 tablespoons lemon juice)
For coating:
¼cup/ 50ggranulated sugar
½teaspoonpowdered citric acid
Instructions
Prepare your silicone molds or a silicone cake pan (9x9 ideally) set on a cookie sheet on a heat-proof surface (the candy will be very hot when it goes into the molds, you don't want to melt your countertops). You can also use a regular baking pan lined with parchment paper (NOT waxed paper or plastic wrap) instead.
In a medium (4-5qt) heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine strawberry puree, sugar, and corn syrup. Set over medium to medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine pectin, baking soda, and water (it will foam). Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until foam subsides a bit, then add to saucepan with strawberry mixture.
Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Continue to cook over medium to medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reads 230°F. This will take about 45 minutes. As it gets above 220, start stirring more frequently, scraping the sides and bottom with a heat-proof spoon or spatula to ensure the mixture cooks evenly and doesn't burn.
Once the mixture hits 230°F, remove from heat and quickly mix in citric acid dissolved in water (careful as it will sputter and steam). Immediately pour into prepared molds (I find transferring it to a large spouted measuring cup makes it easier to pour). The mixture will thicken as it cools, so you want to get it into your molds fairly quickly; this is especially important if your molds are very small (since it'll take longer to fill more of them). For reference, this recipe will make about 400 mL/13.5 fl.oz of liquid candy, if you need to calculate how many molds you'll need to fill.
Set aside and let cool completely to room temperature, at least 2 hours or overnight.
In a bowl, combine sugar and citric acid and whisk until evenly distributed.
Remove candies from molds (or, if you used a single pan, remove the entire piece from the mold and cut it into bite sized pieces or use a cookie cutter to stamp out shapes). Roll the sticky candies in the sour sugar until fully coated. Repeat with remaining candies.
Store candies uncovered at cool room temperature for up to 1 week, covered in the refrigerator (separate with layers of parchment) for up to 2 weeks, or in in the freezer (in a container between layers of parchment) for up to 3 months.
Notes
Do not reduce the sugar in this recipe! You'll only be setting yourself up for failure. This is not a low sugar recipe and cannot be made with less sugar and/or sugar substitutes, nor can you use low-sugar pectin. Read the full post for more info on why you should not do this.