Multi-Coloured Jelly Worms

 

Jelly Worms escaping the dish…

 

Jelly worms sparkling in the sunshine…

 

These Jelly Worms are made from green (lime flavoured), yellow (tropical flavoured), and purple (blackberry flavoured) jellies.

 

Who says you shouldn’t play with your food. This is a bit of fun using coloured jellies and straws to make Jelly Worms (sometimes known as Jello Worms, or Gummy Worms).

I have experimented with making Jelly Worms multiple times to get the correct ratio of jelly to water. The result being that the jellies need only half the amount of water stated on the packet plus a small amount of powdered gelatine added to each jelly. I also experimented with size of the straws – I tried ordinary sized drinking straws to make the worms, but this recipe works much better with the larger straws called ‘shake straws’ that are 1cm in diameter and are used for milkshakes and thick-shakes.

 

 

RECIPE: COLOURED JELLY WORMS

 

85g packets of coloured jellies

Boiling water

14 large ‘shake’ straws, per packet of jelly

5g (1 flat dessertspoon) powdered plain gelatine, per packet of jelly

 

Equipment to make coloured Jelly Worms:

 

Heat-proof bowls, preferably with pouring spouts

Plastic bags

Rubber bands

Container, to stand straws up in

 

1. Tip the contents of each jelly packet into a separate bowl.

 

2. Add in a level dessertspoon of powdered gelatine into each jelly.

 

3. Make up the jelly to the packet instructions, but only use half the amount of water stated on the packet (the packets I used stated 2 cups of boiling water per 85g of jelly, so I used only 1 cup of water).

 

4. Stir jellies until all the crystals have dissolved.

 

5. While waiting for the jelly to cool off, make up the bundles of straws. To do this, I gather a bundle of straws then wrap them tightly in a plastic bag and tie the bag around the straws with rubber bands. Placing the straws in bags means the jelly is contained, and so more jelly goes into the straws making the worms longer, also you can fit several bagged bundles of straws into one container, and the colours stay contained because they are separated in their own plastic bag.

Like this:

 

6. When the jelly is cool, pour into straws.

 

7. Refrigerate until really well set. I left mine for 6 hours in the fridge.

 

8. Remove the jelly worms from the straws by separating each straw and running the jelly end under hot tap water for a few seconds. Dry the straw, then use a tool to securely press the straw down at the top of the jelly worm, then pull the straw towards you to release the worm, as in the following photo:

 

 

9. Place the worms on a plate and keep in fridge until ready to use:

 

 

 

 

Jelly worms are great for kids parties. As an idea, serve them over ice-cream:

 

These vibrantly bright pink jelly worms were made by adding a small amount of liquid cream to purple (blackberry flavoured) jelly.

 

They tasted delicious, and here they are served with Vanilla Bean Icecream:

 

Multi-coloured Jelly worms look great lined up on a serving dish in a colourful repeating pattern:

 

 

Keep tuned, because at some stage I will be making Vodka Jelly Worms…..

 

For another jelly-worm recipe, and worms that really do look like real worms, please follow this link: https://www.inthekitchenwithmum.com/2014/10/jelly-worms-great-for-halloween/