- 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


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:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.