How would one go about......

.....Carbonating a gummy bear? This is yet another exercise in Tom's brain (that's me!) needs more crap to do during the day. Got into a discussion about carbonating gummy bears (shortly after the fastest method to vodka infuse a 5lb gummy bear was brought up). My theory is this- Gummy behaves similar to jello, in both liquid and solid state. Now from what I remember, other than Mr. Ed's feet being involved, jello goo is quite similar in liquid form to soda syrup. As I remember it from my younger days, working a soda dispenser, the soda came from a bag, was mixed with co2 and water in a more or less pressurized environment (the soda machine itself) and presented at the spigot as tasty soda. I don't imagine I can force a solid gummy bear through a modified soda machine (but it'd be fun to try......) HOWEVER- I imagine with the right setup, I could force hot gummy goo through something like that, and do a similar process to the soda mixing thing. Now I know that hot liquid tends to disperse air/co2 at an accelerated rate compared to a cold liquid/solid. So- my theory would be to dump the then carbonated gummy goo into a pressurized chamber, and cool said chamber off, letting the gummy's solid properties hold the co2 in once solidified.

Yes, I do get REALLY bored sometimes. Anyhow, I figured I'd bring this to y'all, since if you can find animal blood, i'm pretty sure you can figure this out.

How the soda works.
The box has a plastic bag inside. The item is referred to "bag-in-a-box"
What is in the bag is soft drink syrup. At the fountain, this syrup is directly mixed with carbonated water. As the liquid and syrup come out they are mixed at a 5:1 ratio (6:1 ratio for diet.)
This type of fountain is called "post mix" in that the water/syrup are mixed at the serving point.
The converse of this is metal canisters of soda call "pre-mix." In pre-mix, what is in the canister is the same as what is in a bottle or can. This premix is sort of the equivalent of a keg of beer in that it is the same liquid regardless of the container. Pre-mix soda is used where a water supply is not readily available like maybe a fair/festival food trailer.
Post-mix is significantly cheaper per serving if you do enough volume to offset the cost of the water carbonating machine.

Carbonation or more so CO2 is a memory gas. That is, when cold enough, the product does not have carbonation. In the example above, the carbonated water is chilled before serving. It is chilled so that the product does not foam when serving. All bottling and canning is done at about 32 degrees for the same reason of no foaming.

There is sparkling jello on the market. You mix tonic or soda water with the jello just before throwing it in the fridge. You get the fizzy taste while eating it.

The problem is that carbonating something that is warm is nearly impossible, you need pretty substantial amounts of head pressure. But once you chill the gummi goo, it will be solid-ish, and you can't really carbonate a solid.

So you either have to make the goo with highly-carbonated water and then keep it under pressure as it cools, or put the gummi goo in a container and put it under a great deal of head pressure to carbonate it that way.

But as JRW said, once it warms up, it'll appear more carbonated than it did when it was chilled. So, if you do this, serve at room temperature

Conquest351 wrote: There is sparkling jello on the market. You mix tonic or soda water with the jello just before throwing it in the fridge. You get the fizzy taste while eating it.

Ohh, I'm going to the supermarket tonight!!

The whole idea behind this is to make a 5lb fizzy fluffy Vodka bear.

I don't remember what it was called, but I know there was some mucking about with carbonated fruit... I think it was basically just stored in pressurized CO2 for a little while.

While you can't readily carbonate a solid, I get the impression that something with a significant liquid content could be carbonated in this way.

How to make carbonated fruit on instructables.com

Wouldn't a carbonated gummi bear just be the same with a bunch of air pockets in it? What's the point? (Not being a dick, genuinely curious.)

alex wrote: Wouldn't a carbonated gummi bear just be the same with a bunch of air pockets in it? What's the point? (Not being a dick, genuinely curious.)

You force the CO2 in under pressure (or at a lower temp), and when it is served at normal temp or pressure it is 'fizzy'. Compare to a loaf of bread which just has air holes where CO2 formed bubbles at a past stage, and you have something which is spongy instead of fizzy.

If you can get this to work, you will have invented the gummi bear that farts.

Can you submerge pop rocks in gummy stuff?

ThePhranc wrote: Can you submerge pop rocks in gummy stuff?

Thought about that. Problem is, Pop rocks aren't actually carbonated.

Twin_Cam wrote: The problem is that carbonating something that is warm is nearly impossible, you need pretty substantial amounts of head pressure. But once you chill the gummi goo, it will be solid-ish, and you can't really carbonate a solid. So you either have to make the goo with highly-carbonated water and then keep it under pressure as it cools, or put the gummi goo in a container and put it under a great deal of head pressure to carbonate it that way. But as JRW said, once it warms up, it'll appear more carbonated than it did when it was chilled. So, if you do this, serve at room temperature

That was my exact thought. Heat, carbonate, pressurize, cool.

Yahoo Serious much?