I’m still dialing in my conditions for these indoors and so far they seem to like it when it’s warmer. A couple months ago I had a tub that was not fruiting and looked contaminated. I buried the cake in a flower pot and topped it with some coco coir. As it’s been said before let nature do its thing!
For the past month I have been trying to make shelf stable mushroom gummies. They have been quite the hit in my household and I figured I’d share what I have so far with the all of yous. My current method at its core is a combination of a post found here as well as some ingredients and concepts I saw in a non-active, gummy candy making video. If anyone has some candy making experience or tips I’m all ears! Been thinking about using aroma oils and incorporating an alcohol extraction instead of tea water for even higher potency per ml.
Here’s the original recipe I found reposted on r/magnificentcubensis, copy pasted by u/Fahtster: https://www.reddit.com/r/magnificentcubensis/s/BfKmUbIAnU
YouTube video by mynameisandong that covers making non active gummy candy as close to Haribo’s texture as he could manage: https://youtu.be/fLHqgX5UaJk?is=8q81HHNT4cxHyg91
I started with the reddit recipe and it works great as is. I found that even when upping the gelatin powder I wasn’t getting the chewiness I wanted. Switching to sheet gelatin has really helped me get it to that consistency I want with the added benefit of the candy coming out much clearer. Keeping the syrups hydration as low as possible is key, with the real bottle neck being how thick and pourable is it hot compared to its cooling time.
Supplies:
Small pot
Cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer
Borosilicate measuring cup or beaker
Heat safe glove or oven mitt
Flat spring coil whisk (aka egg whisk) or a regular whisk
A silicone gummy mold (I prefer 2ml cavities or larger)
A 60ml syringe with a blunt tip needle (18 gauge or larger)
200 bloom sheet gelatin(or unflavored powder gelatin)
Any flavor of Jello mix (mostly berry blue but have done grape as well)
Glucose or corn syrup
Measuring spoons and cups
Dried mushrooms
Anywhere from 5-20 grams works with this amount of water, just make sure you’re calculating your doses accordingly. 10 is a good start but by all means put whatever you can fit. The lowest concentration I’ve done is 6 grams reduced to 3/4 cup with the highest being 18 grams in 1/2 cup. I’m sure I could reduce to even less than that but I’m a bit afraid of evaporating too much accidentally.
Step 1: Make your concentrated mushroom tea. This can be whichever method you like but what I’ve been using is;
Bring 1 cup of water to a rolling boil. You can use 2 cups but I like this amount so I don’t need to reduce later. Crush up 10- 20 grams of dried cubes in a bag. Turn off stove and remove pot from heat and dump in all the fruit. If there’s a lot of dried pieces on top mix them in. Steep for 20 minutes. Pour tea through a fine mesh strainer and/or cheese cloth into the measuring cup. I like to squeeze the remaining water out of the mushies too.I usually end up with slightly less than 3/4 of a cup of tea. I have made this recipe successfully with anywhere from 1/2 to slightly over 3/4 cups of liquid. Reduce mixture in heat or add water as needed. While the tea is still warm, whisk in 1/4 teaspoon on potassium sorbate and 1.5 teaspoons of citric acid (but I’ve added up to 4). Cover and chill mixture in fridge or ice bath to 65-75 f (18.3-23.9 c)
Step 2: Reconstituting gelatin. If you are using gelatin powder, put 2.5 grams into the measuring cup and let it bloom for 5 minutes. If using sheet gelatin, cut sheets up into a small blender and blend until flaky, measure out 15 grams and add to a small bowl. To reconstitute the sheet gelatin I use a 60 ml blunt tip syringe with 50-70ml of the chilled tea and bloom for 5-10 minutes.
Step 3: With the rest of the tea, I add 1/4 cup of blue jello mix as well as my chosen inverted sugar. Im still undecided on how much of which sugar I prefer. Recently, I’ve been adding either 2/3 cup of glucose syrup or 1/3 cup each of corn and glucose. The corn syrup is a bit sweeter and much easier to pour due to its higher water content. For the glucose syrup only recipe, I lightly coat a 1/3 measuring spoon in vegetable oil, and scoop and pour two heaping spoonfuls into the measuring cup. Once the gelatin is bloomed add it to the mixture and place in the microwave for 1:00-1:30 or until warm and incorporated.
WARNING: Be extra cautious when handling and working with molten syrup because sugar burns are awful. Be especially careful of small amounts of hot syrup on the outside of your glass.
Step 4: Once the mixture is hot and mixed together use a heat safe glove or oven mitt to remove from the microwave. Once the syrup is hot I make a note of how many ml of total syrup I have to calculate the dosage later. If the syrup is extra thick or I have a ton of molds to fill I will put the measuring cup in a hot water bath, although I haven’t needed this much. I use 2ml square cavity molds but I also fill them all past the brim so keep that in mind when you do your calculations. I started with 1ml bears but they are a pain to load and clean plus if your texture is off you leave a lot behind. Now set up you silicone mold on a baking sheet or a flat dehydrator tray. You will definitely need a larger needle gauge than 18 if you’re using sheet gelatin and glucose with low hydration which will be quite thick even when it’s hot. Carefully pull your mixture into the syringe and fill your mold. Alternatively, you can slowly pour your mixture onto the mold and spread it out with a bench scraper.
Step 5: Let them air dry for 1-6 hours then place in fridge covered in plastic wrap or foil over night. After that they are technically ready to eat and should be pretty gummy. I prefer a chewier texture and more shelf stability so I pop them onto parchment paper on trays and let them air dry for 72 hours. Flip once every 24 hours or so. Not eating them all during this time is the hardest part for me. I have also tried using my Corsori dehydrator on 95 degrees for an hour at a time, checking every 15-30 minutes to speed up the drying process. This can work well for solid gummies but will heavily influence the final shape if the hydration isn’t low enough. Sometimes I put the parchment tray in front of my flow hood to air dry as I have pet hair and other stuff to deal with but the kitchen counter works just as well.
That’s what I’ve got so far. The sky is the limit with these when it comes to size and with flavor (next up for me is giant pineapple piña colada). If you don’t have a mold, you can use a glass tray or tupperwear and cut out the pieces and measure by weight (assuming you’ve already done your dosing calculations).
Once they’ve dried, store in the fridge, either on the parchment in a container or all in a jar. You can cut the paper into smaller pieces then stack the sheets up for easier storage without them sticking together. I have been putting oxygen absorbers in the glass jars but I don’t know how much they work as my house eats all the candy in a few days, lol. The low hydration level and high sugar content combined with the potassium sorbate and citric acid makes these shelf stable and I will be running some experiments in future with that as well. Good luck and mush love ✌️🍄😊
Edit: Thanks so much for all the feedback and candy making tips guys!! I’ve got a lot of exiting stuff to try before my next update
DJKhanFu RedBullFC Tokyo 2025 the first few tracks in particular are so good like what? If I could do that in FLstudio I would be so happy
First two images are from June 13th. The next 4 are July 1st. After transferring the top piece of rhizomorphic growth I closed and separated it from the rest of my plates. Today I’m looking through stuff and come back to this.
Staying with family and they needed some plant meds ASAP. It’s far from ideal but considering the budget and timeframe I’m not too disappointed. Started with 23qt pressure cooker, a still air box, and 1 liquid culture syringe of Purple Mystic, Jedi Mind Fuck, and Bluey Vuitton. I purchased about 100 bucks worth of supplies (including rice, jars, agar plates and ingredients, jb weld, micropore tape, magnetic stirrer, new pressure gauge for canner, etc.).
So far there are a few things I would have done differently. First is to go with disk filters from MICROPPOSE or a syringe filter instead of micropore tape for the LC lids. Next I would have modified the grain jar lids in some way. Currently I am ambivalent about my grain selection but will definitely be doing rye or corn next, as well as build a DIY flow hood because the SAB work was killing my back. 😂🤷🏽♂️