Son getting married! I want to make favors for the wedding/rehearsal.

How many candies are in a batch? How many guests are you expecting? How much work is it to do the way you're accustomed to?

No matter what you do, people are likely to keep them as mementos. Given that, maybe you should make a test batch now, and see what happens if they're left out. Particularly, do they go moldy or rot, or do they just get hard?

I don't know about large batch home candy making, but I think the gummies would be great, especially if you can get a wedding bells mold, or bride and groom, or some such thing, rather than simple drops. If they turn out to be saveable, I suggest that you give one beautiful, large gummy to each guest, in a pretty presentation box, perhaps with some wedding theme color M&Ms or something, so if they eat the gummy, they'll still have the box. You can give more of the gummies if your ability to make and store them matches.

For me, if I make something like that a certain way, scaling up is rarely a good idea. Instead I make more batches.

Congratulations! And good luck with the candy.

Here's a website with a recipe that might be a starting point for you....the recipe has quite a few reviews/comments, but just know that a lot of the comments are from people who have NOT made these.

(Don't ya just love it when a recipe looks good, has loads of reviews, but when you get to the reviews, it's most all people saying how good it looks...but they've never made the recipe?)

However, a few people did make these successfully, so hopefully their input will be helpful to you!

Wine Gummy Bears recipe

Or numerous comments saying the recipe was just so-so, and then the poster tells how they made it, changing the recipe and directions. I didn't want to use butter, so I substituted applesauce, and I skipped the nuts and added some cauliflower as I had some on hand. Ugh.

Sheilajoyce, you gave me a good chuckle!

LOL @ sheilajoyce!!!!

Yeah, some of the online recipe sources are a bit suspect. And assume you know more about cooking than you do. Like when a recipe says 1 cup pumpkin. Do they mean canned, raw, chunks?

So I guess I should have been more clear. I have made my own wine gummies and they are wonderful. The downside being is that they need to be refrigerated. I need to figure out how to make a more stable version that can be prepackaged and stored unrefrigerated.

I have a batch in the fridge now. I will leave them out to see what happens.

Testing is definitely required for stability. What recipe are you using? And how many gummy things do you need to make that you cannot find room in the fridge for them?! Maybe worth buying a cheap fridge for storage?

So the space they will take up in the fridge isn’t the issue, it’s the fact that we want the guests to take them home. So we want to bag a dozen or so in little celllophane bags and have a big display for people to grab some on their way out. So I want the gummies to be more stable than I think my current recipe will create. Or we wil have 2-3 big bowls full of them and some scoops and bags and people can make their own little to go bag. If I can’t figure it out our other option is to have them either in a signature drink or as a topping on a dessert.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rosé wine, divided
• 1/4 cup unflavored powdered gelatin, about 5 (.25-ounce each) envelopes
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 drop pink or red food coloring (optional but recommended)

• Equipment
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Gummy bear molds (optional, see notes for alternative ideas)
• 2-quart saucepan
• 2-cup glass measuring cup
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Squeeze bottles or baster
• Offset spatula

Instructions

1. Get the molds ready: Place the gummy bear molds on a rimmed baking sheet and make sure there is room in your refrigerator for the baking sheet to sit flat.
2. Concentrate 1 cup of the rosé: Bring 1 cup of the rosé to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool while blooming the gelatin.
3. Bloom the gelatin: Combine the gelatin and remaining cup of rosé in a 2-cup measuring cup. Stir to make sure all of the gelatin is wet, then leave the gelatin to "bloom" for 5 minutes. The gelatin should swell, thickening the mixture.
4. Combine the sugar, gelatin mixture, and rosé concentrate:Add the sugar to the saucepan with the concentrated rosé. Add the bloomed gelatin and rosé mixture to the pan as well and stir to combine.
5. Cook the gelatin mixture: Return the pan to medium-low heat and bring the mixture to a bare simmer, stirring constantly. Do not boil the gelatin mixture, but the gelatin and sugar should dissolve completely and the mixture should have the consistency of a thick syrup, like maple syrup.
6. Add the food coloring: Remove the pan from the heat and add the food coloring if using. Pour the mixture into squeeze bottles or a measuring cup with a spout.
7. Fill the molds: Squeeze a small amount of the gelatin mixture into each cavity of the molds, or pour using the spouted measure cup. Use an offset spatula to level the molds and wipe away excess gummy mixture.
8. Set the gummies: Refrigerate the gummies until set, about 90 minutes.
9. Store the gummies: Push the candies out from the bottom of the mold to remove. Store them in the refrigerator.

I did find this discussion about trying to make gummies that are shelf-stable. I'm not sure there was a positive outcome.

I think you have other options... My niece had small (6 oz?) wine bottles created with custom labels for her wedding. Or what about wine jelly in small jars (4 oz or smaller)?

ETA: I'm looking at recipes for jellied candies and they don't seem to require refrigeration -- the difference seems to be that the jellies have a higher ratio of gelatin to juice. Perhaps you can find an alternative recipe for wine jellies?

Here's a recipe for wine jellies they say can be stored in airtight container for a week. Wine jellies

My other option is some form of Turkish delight. One of my sons favorites.

Annette, how did your experiment to leave the gummies out of the fridge go? Were you able to make more shelf stable gummies? I bought some molds and am going to use your rose recipe, and was wondering if there is anything I should tweak so that they don’t have to stay in the fridge. Thanks!

They were ok, albeit a bit sticky. The6 would not be good for people to take home in a baggie, bu5 would be fine as a dessert topping served at the dinner. . I think I will try adding Potassium Sorbate to the next batch.

Thanks for the update. I made a batch today. Flavor was good, but the consistency seemed more like stiff finger jello than gummies. Maybe i did something wrong? I have a few sitting in a plate to see what happens and the rest in the fridge.

Mine are pretty firm from the fridge. Did you bloom the gelatin?

Yes, I did bloom the gelatin. Mine are also firm from the fridge. Are yours just like store bought gummy bear consistency? While mine are very firm, they are more along the lines of extra firm finger jello. I suspect my results are probably correct, just different than what I expected.

Mine are very close to store bought. Although not as dry. But firm. I was thinking if I coat the trays in cornstarch it will dry out the exteriors.

I’m going to give it another try. Thanks!

FWIW I have made wine jelly and liked it. If you can make champagne jelly I'm assuming you can make rose jelly. In those little 1/2 cup jars. However, that would not be super cheap, depending on how many guests you are having. Another suggestion is to serve sparkling rose and get monogrammed champagne flutes for guests. Hubs and I looked into that but it was just one detail too many for us with having to plan and execute two weddings.

So is your son going to be a dentist? Gummy bears and Turkish taffy. Sounds like mom is plotting to develop a good pool of patients! Good luck on your experiments.

Our son's friend worked for Krispy Kream donuts, and had a table set up outside the doors in the hallway with special boxes of two donuts each for guests to take home with them. I was surprised that few people took a box with them and a real shame after all her work.

An update to this thread. I ended up doing these for the bridal shower as the wedding planning was getting crazy and I didn’t want to add to the confusion. I made a few batches and added the potassium sorbate and they ended up extremely shelf stable. The funniest part was the grandmother of the groom tried a gummy at the shower and loved them. Next thing I know she’s sitting in the family room with her own personal bowl of gummies lol. Her oldest daughter realizes that she’s loving these things but probably didn’t realize they were alcoholic. I hear her yell “Mother! You put those down, you’re going to get schnockered!” We all lost it. I sent her home with her own bag for later lol.