Now simmer this for 5 minutes and make sure you are stirring at regular intervals. The agar-agar tends to get deposited in the bottom. So stirring helps a lot.
Now add the orange flavor and mix it thoroughly.
Separate into three equal parts and add the required food color and remix it.
Pour into molds, or you can pour in any rimmed pan and refrigerate it. It should set in about 30 to 40 minutes. I usually let it sit for atleast 4 hours.
Carefully remove the gumdrops from the molds. Just press them out from the bottom, and it should come out quickly. If you are not using the molds, then cut the gumdrops into desired shapes.
Take the sugar for coating in a bowl and coat the gumdrops generously with sugar and place them on the rimmed pan lined with parchment paper.
Let this sit for 24 hours. The sugar coated might look thin and runny, and it is normal. Coat them again and let it sit for another 24 hours. By now the sugar should have crystallized if not coat the gumdrops with sugar again and allow it to set. After the second coating, it should set within 8 hours.
That's it. Homemade gumdrops are ready. Store in an air-tight container
Notes
Depending upon the gel strength of the agar-agar adjust the amount. I went with the package instructions which mentioned ½ tsp of agar-agar for ½ cup of water. I have linked the product that I used as well.
I used raw sugar, and the crystals were comparatively more prominent than the regular ones. If you use the regular white ones, it won't stick out like mine.
The two days wait time is mandatory as sugar needs to crystallize.
You can include flavors of your choice instead of orange. Adding food colors is optional.
I used the molds for setting up the gumdrops. But you can pour it on a tray or rimmed pan and allow it set and cut it.
You can ignore the sugar coating process and make them like a jello-drop. Check my rose jello recipe for the same.