A. B. Gum Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix corn starch with cold water until dissolved.
In a steam kettle, combine water and glucose, then turn on the steam and stir until mixed.
Cook
Shut off the steam, then add the starch mixture to the glucose and water.
Cook until the mixture breaks off in small lumps from a spatula.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Corn starch
- Thickens and sets the mixture into a firm, chewy gel as it cooks.
- Glucose
- Adds sweetness and softness, and helps prevent the candy from turning grainy or crystallizing.
The step that matters
Cook until the mixture breaks off in small lumps from a spatula.. Cooking drives off water and fully sets the starch, which determines the final firmness. Stopping too early leaves the gum drops soft and sticky, while cooking too long makes them stiff and rubbery.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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