- Mix 100 g of Fructose with 200 g of Maltodextrin
- Add a level half teaspoon of pectin, mix
- Measure 200 g boiling water in a separate measuring jug
- Slowly add the water to your powder, mixing with a spoon
- Pour your gel into reusable gel sachets, baby food sachets, or a soft flask
- Refrigerate and consume within 3–5 days
a level half teaspoon
Why put explicit weights and volume on the other ingredients and let people basically guess how much this is?
A teaspoon is a specific amount. Courtesy of Wikipedia:
For dosing of medicine and, in places where metric units are used, for cooking purposes, a teaspoonful is defined as 5 mL, and standard measuring spoons are used
So half a teaspoon would be 2.5 mL.
The “level” instruction is just a way of making sure that’s precise, because sometimes people will give instructions like “a heaped teaspoon”, which is vague, except in as much as it’s “definitely more than 1 tsp”, and “probably not more than about 50% above exactly 1 tsp.”
But more importantly, I think it’s because the pectin is not there for nutritional value. It’s a thickening agent. Add more of it, you get a thicker gel, add less and it’s runnier. (At least I think that’s how it works. I’ve not tried this recipe, let alone tried it while playing around with the quantities, and I’m not a cook or baker.)
Using volumetric units for solids is the fucking worst!…weight for solids, volume for fluids.
What kind of solid is pectin? Volumes work fine for powders, IMO. But definitely shouldn’t be used for lump solids like butter.
No volumetric doesn’t work for powders especially, because they compact very differently depending on how they’re scooped. It’s much worse with fine powders compared to something more coarse like sugar e.g. there can easily be several grams of difference between two seemingly identical tablespoon scoops of powder.
Oh interesting, TIL.
I think in the case of pectin in this recipe, because it’s (I assume—see my earlier comment) not super important to be precise with the amounts, it’s not too bad to use volumetric. If anything, the imprecise nature of volumetric measures helps reinforce the fact that the amount of pectin needed is not precise. Similar to how he specified “100 g Fructose” and not “99.98 g”. A false level of precision in what’s shared implies a higher-than-necessary level of precision from the person following the recipe.
While grabbing the thumbnail for this post (since Lemmy doesn’t do it for you on YouTube), I also noticed that he has a follow-up about flavoured gels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7LKSXegvc4
He notes in that video that he prefers not to have electrolites in his gels, instead taking that with his hydration.
For flavouring, your options include:
- A few drops of essence, such as vanilla, berry, or citrus flavouring
- Fresh lemon juice or lime
- Some “squash” (I think this might be the same thing as what I would call “cordial”—a drink bought from a basic supermarket that is made extra-strong and intended to be mixed with water 4:1 or more. He says 3:1 or 2:1, so perhaps squash is a weaker version of cordial)
- A double espresso for a caffeine gel
Keeping in mind, if you use lemon juice or squash, that the quantity of flavouring you use needs to be subtracted from the amount of water. And the caffeine option might even entirely include the necessary water.
Squash is indeed what you’d probably call cordial. Technically there is probably a difference between the two but where I am from they are used pretty much interchangeably. Cordial is seen as the “posh” version I guess.
Thanks for actually writing out details and the recipe rather than just posting the video, it is much appreciated from someone who generally won’t follow video links but is interested in the subject.
Thanks for actually writing out details and the recipe rather than just posting the video
Haha yeah no problem. I figure…it’s a recipe. I’m a big fan of video content. I’d much rather watch a video essay than read a written one. But a recipe is almost the perfect example of something that is at its best in a simple text list. When a 4 minute video can be summarised into a 6 point numbered list, why not offer that? Plus the video gave a bunch of less important details, like where to source the ingredients, and how much it cost (on the order of 1/10th commercial gels).
It’s like that classic problem of recipe websites telling you their life story before getting to the recipe itself.
Comments under this video point out that normal home sugar (sucrose) is 50/50 glucose & sucrose, so you can in theory alter it to a 2:1 ratio of white sugar:maltodextrin and have the same caloric value and digestivity. However, others note that this makes the taste a lot sweeter, and may not be comfortable with the aftertaste.
One other user had their own variation:
Differences for me:
- I don’t add any pectin. I found the syrup consistency was okay for me and quite enjoyable plus it allowed me to use a standard cheap soft flask with a bite valve. I think that we have commercial gels solely for the convenience of sucking it out of a packet!
- I use 80g of water per 100g carbs so slightly more watery which again aids with the bite valve on soft flasks
- I use citric acid to reduce the pH to make it a little safer for longer storage and also to impart a lemony flavour. Need microscales for this as I only add 0.2g per 100g of carbs - it’s strong stuff!
Thanks for sharing this! I saw it a few weeks ago and enthousiastically ordered everything I need, which has been sitting in my cupboards. This post has given me the motivation (and the written recipe) to actually start trying to make it today.
Let us know how it goes when you try it!
First try they came out very liquid, so I’m going to add a bit more pectine next time. I replaced 10 ml water with lemon juice and the taste is just slightly lemony sugar, so a bit more wouldn’t hurt I guess. But the recipe was easy and we’ll see how fast I go this weekend!
Ah, IIRC he said in the video that the lemon option ended up runnier than some of the others? So that might make sense.
Ah… I didn’t watch the video again, my mistake.
