How to: Mess up Home-Made Fruit Juice Gummies

I saw a recipe for making your own gummies/fruit snacks using Jell-O and gelatin. Which got me all excited, since I have a ton of cute chocolate, candy, and ice molds, with no actual desire to mold chocolates. But I wasn't thrilled with not being able to control the amount of sugar, due to the Jell-O being pre-sweetened. Plus the whole artificial flavors and color (not that I'm totally opposed. I do use Kool-Aid powder to color and flavor Z's yogurt!) But if I'm making something from scratch, and I don't need it to be a particular color, why not make it without the dyes?
Then a friend of mine on Facebook posted a picture of her own home-made fruit snacks, using just juice and gelatin powder. So I pounced and demanded asked nicely for the recipe. I tried it and totally messed it up, so I'll give you the recipe as she told it to me, and tell you how I ruined it, so you can avoid my mistakes.

Home-Made Fruit Juice Gummies

Ingredients:
2/3 cup fruit juice concentrate (thawed, if using frozen)
4 to 5 0.25oz packets gelatin powder

Directions:
Step 1: Pour juice (and water if you wish to dilute flavor, or have a stronger concentrated juice) to small saucepan.
Step 2: Sprinkle gelatin powder over the juice and let sit for a few minutes.

Step 3: Put the pan over medium heat and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.

Step 4: Pour mixture into molds (pouring it into a measuring cup or other container with a spout first makes this step much easier!)

Step 5: Allow to set at least 20 minutes. You can speed this up a bit by putting them in the refrigerator.

Kids can help with choosing the mold(s) (if you have multiples to choose from, that is!) measuring and pouring the juice, and tearing open the packets of powder and adding them in. You can also have them stir before turning on the stove. If you're prepared to watch them like a hawk and have hands ready to slap aside any sloppy arms, you can let them help stir while the stove is on as well.
But the best part is "Official Taste Tester." We made a little science experiment out of it and I let her try one at various times within the 20-minutes-to-set window, so she got to see and feel first-hand how they changed over time.

Note: 5 packets of gelatin makes the gummies very chewy. For softer ones, use only 4 packets. Or make a double batch and try 9, to hedge your bets.
Using silicone ice cube trays works exceedingly well, but you'll want to gently pull the edges of each one away from the sides before attempting to remove them. Greasing the trays first avoids this effort, but then they taste like PAM.

I used a lingonberry syrup concentrate from IKEA. Frozen concentrate usually calls for 1 part frozen juice to 2 parts water, and this stuff called for 1 part juice to 6 parts water. So I added another 2/3cup water and planned for another 4 more packets of gelatin to compensate for the stronger concentration. And it gave me more to work with. Only I tasted it and it felt too strong. So I added another 2/3cup water. And set aside another 4 packets of gelatin. Except that I didn't take into account that the gelatin would dilute the flavor even more. So I messed it up and mine ended up tasting very weak. Ah well.
I also flinched, after adding the gelatin to the juice mixture. All I could see was a solid mass of undissolved powder, so I thought that my snacks would be all grainy. So I added more water and juice while it was heating up. Then changed my mind when I saw the gelatin was dissolving and clearing up, and added more gelatin to compensate. Which ended up being a mistake, since instead of blending in and dissolving, it just clumped right up. Doh!
And all the frantic mixing while it was heating up caused a bunch of frothing, which ended up setting as an opaque, bubbly layer on top of the mold (so on the bottoms of the shapes.)

But with my extensive candy molds I was able to make unicorn and ducky lollipops, flowers, train-shapes, zoo animal-shapes, even little trinket-box shaped snacks (with lids!)

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Using a fishie ice-cube tray from IKEA, I'll be able to make custom One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish snacks for preschool next year! And since I had so much extra mixture, I also made flowers, starfish, and hearts.

Luckily, my little Podling loves them. She doesn't care that they taste extremely weak. She wanted to eat the plain gelatin powder straight from the packet. (Bleah.) So the lumps of gelatin powder are a non-issue for her. And they have practically no sugar, since they are so diluted!

As far as I know you shouldn't need to refrigerate them, since most juices contain Vitamin C or citric acid, which are natural preservatives. Keep them in an air-tight container in a cool, dry area. But feel free to store them in the fridge if you plan on making large batches that will last longer.
I also used parchment paper to keep them from touching, so they wouldn't meld or stick together somehow, since I stacked them in layers in a container.