Jelly Worms (great for Halloween)

 

 

Jelly worms, (or jello worms), are fun to make and look really life-like. The worms create a sensation and produced varied reactions from viewers, with shock and disgust ranking high on the list. I certainly shocked myself each time I opened the fridge door to see a bowl ‘worms’ sitting on the shelf! They certainly were not going to be my dinner.

I may not have been too keen on eating these worms, but the birds were – I photographed some ‘worms’ on the lawn and left them there after my photo-shoot, only to find when I turned my back, the blackbirds were eyeing them up as a tasty feast.  So this recipe is tried and tested and is good enough to even fool the birds into thinking these worms are real, and they are the true worm connoisseurs!

 

Be sure to allow at least a day to make these. Some recipes state the jelly needs 8 hours in the fridge to set, but I think they need at least a day in the fridge to make sure the jelly has set firmly.

 

 

JELLY WORMS

 

2 packets (85g, or 6oz) of raspberry jelly

1 and ½ packets (15g or 1 ½ tablespoons) of unflavoured gelatine

¾ cup of cream

3 cups boiling water

Green food colouring

100 flexible straws (with bendable necks)

Tall container

Rubber bands

 

1. Combine raspberry jelly and gelatine in a bowl and add boiling water. Stir until the jelly and gelatine have dissolved completely. Then let jelly cool to lukewarm.
2. Extend the bendy straws out to their full length.
3. When the jelly and gelatine are cool enough, add cream and green food colouring, until the mixture resembles the colour of worms.
4. Gather the straws together, making sure all the bendy pieces of the straws are together at one end. It is important that the straws are held tightly together, so place two or three rubber bands around them to hold them in place.
5. Place straws in a closely fitting container, making sure the bendable neck part of the straw is at the bottom. The straws need to have a tight fit in the container, so they remain upright and secure when the mixture is poured over them, you can place more straws into the container to help.
6. Pour the jelly mixture over the straws in the container and place in the fridge to set.
7. To release the worms from the straws, run each straw under hot running tap water. They only need a short time under the water or the jelly will start to melt.
8. Press down firmly on the end of a straw and squeeze the jelly worms out.

 

 

I made up a few wormy scenarios:

 

Worms in ‘dirt’ (crushed up chocolate biscuit fudge):

 

Worms in real dirt:

 

Worms on the lawn:

 

A blackbird intrigued by the pile of ‘worms’:

 

100 straws!…

 

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• Most recipes I saw used 1 packet of gelatine, but I added more to make sure the worms kept their shape and didn’t fall apart.

 

• An adaptation of this idea is to make Multi-coloured Jelly Worms. See my recipe here: https://www.inthekitchenwithmum.com/2015/03/multi-coloured-jelly-worms/