Today I learned about the next great art material: gummy worms. They can be melted in the microwave and remolded into almost anything. I learned this from a tutorial on how to make gummy shot glasses. (I am totally jealous that I didn't think of that first. Curses!) I melted down my own gummy worms while cooking dinner today and I was shocked at how easily they are to work with.



I used my silicon fish ice cube tray to mold my gummy fish. It's helpfully labeled 'water only'. Don't you tell me what to do, ice cube tray.

Clark and I had a rule for dividing food expenses when we moved in together. He would pay for his own beer and I would pay for my own candy; the rest would come from our joint account. Dear, I owe you $2.



I cut the gummy worms in half and sorted them by color. The red gummy worm halves were the most prevalent (as it should be) so I mixed those with a little orange and a little pineapple.

I put them in a microwave for 22 seconds and was shocked to find that the gummy worms were already melted. I microwaved the container for a further 15 seconds to get the liquid hotter, and thus easier to pour.

I would also like to point out that liquid gummy worms are quite tasty. I have some cruddy Asian dental work and my teeth ring with pain when I eat most gummy candies. It's good in the long run for my health, but I sure do love candy. It's nice to know that I can drink liquid gummy and pass up the painful chewing part. (Next stop: incorporating this new knowledge into a mixed drink. A swedish fish made from swedish fish, perhaps?)



It only took half of a 1 pound bag of gummy worms to fill the entire mold. I added some chocolate chips to some of the fish. It's an odd combination of tastes, but our dinner guests liked them.

The only tricky part was pulling the finished candies out of the mold. The fish tails warped a bit, but mostly stayed intact despite all of the pulling an cursing to which they were subjected. I think I'll dust the tray with corn starch for easier extraction next time.

Labels: food, projects

posted by Alison 3/23/2009 11:10:00 PM : (0) comments : splink