The Food Research Lab mimics commercial food and beverage giants and formulates food, snacks, flavoured beverages, chews, gummies, etc. “You name it, we make it.”

Today’s Task

What We did Today?

Sour Gummy Worms 

Event: Today, I planned to develop worm–shaped gummies.

How I felt it (initially before executing the actual task): I  was excited to develop an innovative product. 

Actual Task: Product formulation

What did I learn?

The worm gummy is a blend of soluble corn fibre, allulose, rice flour and gelling agent pectin with acidity regulators and flavours. There is a considerable demand for low-calorie gummies with features like vegan gummy and made with low sugar. Mixing ingredients, cooking at a controlled temperature, and drying are the primary considerations for making a sour worm gummy. Creating a gummy with pectin as a gelling agent is one of the most challenging parts, i.e. mixing ingredients step by step during the cooking process to optimize the chewy texture.  

Another challenge was formulating a mixed fruit flavour with a sour taste for the gummy using lemons. Developing a shelf-stable product with no deterioration in the product’s taste and flavour is the last challenge. Once the ingredients were collected, the gummies were formed using soluble corn fibre, rice flour, citric acid, pectin and natural flavours and colours, according to their flavour, texture, colour and taste. The product was stored at ambient temperature for shelf life analysis.