Homemade Instant Pudding Mix

 Today I wanted to share a little information about using modified food starch for mix making. Thanks once again to Troy and Tracey at Preparing Wisely for sharing this cool stuff with me. This is called Ultra Gel. It gets thick in hot or cold liquid so it works amazingly well in instant pudding mix. I love that I don't have to cook the pudding, even though I could if I wanted to do so. Sometimes I love getting that cooked pudding skin...but most of the time when I'm making pudding I want it fast. My Father in law Mr. Putt-Putt is eighty something...and he loves his pudding cups. This saves us money. Fair enough right?

It can be used to replace the starch in any of the mixes I have on my blog including:
Cream Soup Mix at a fraction of the cost
Homemade cream of condensed soup replacement
Gravy Mix made easy

Nutritionally it's pretty low calorie and carbohydrate.

It's gluten free but not corn free. It can also be used in sugar free jam. Really!

It holds well and, unlike regular corn starch, it keeps it's thickening power after freezing.

For instant pudding I wanted something with about four ingredients, instead of the list found on a box of store purchased stuff. I try to stay as natural as possible. You know how I roll right? Well this is what we have come up with.

Instant pudding mix:

1/2 cup sugar or sugar free "spoon-able" alternative

1/3 cup ultra gel Ultra Gel

1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp LorAnn flavored oil of your choice (*butterscotch, vanilla, butter cream...you name it.)

I happen to use vanilla infused sugar on a regular basis for this. I keep vanilla beans in quart jars full of sugar. After about 3 weeks, the sugar has a very nice vanilla flavor. Yes...that is a vanilla bean sticking out of the top of the sugar...not a worm. Zoinks. That would be nasty.

To make into pudding:

2 cups cold milk or soy milk

Whisk the pudding mix into the milk and chill 10 minutes. Serve cold.

It will be about this thick at first. The longer it sits the better the set.

Other flavors:

*Pistachio pudding, add 1/4 cup fine chopped pistachio and 1/8 tsp pistachio flavor

* chocolate pudding, add 1/4 cup cocoa to the mix

*caramel pudding, use brown sugar instead of white sugar

*coconut cream pudding, use coconut milk instead of milk

*lemon pudding, use 1/2 tsp lemon zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon in finished product.

There you go.

Ultra Gel

Ultra Gel - The Ultimate Thickener

Ultra Gel is really the ultimate thickener.  While most thickeners work fairly well with heat, they really tend to clump up when added to cold items.  However, Ultra Gel is amazing in that it can be added hot or cold!  Ultra Gel is a food starch made from waxy maize and is great for a myriad of applications. 

Here is how easy it is to thicken gravy:

Add in a few tablespoons of Ultra Gel

Stir in with a wisk, and shortly thereafter you have picture perfect gravy.

When you make sauces with Ultra Gel, they don't separate like when you use traditional corn starch.  Ultra Gel helps to stabilize low-fat products such as salad dressings, add body to low sugar foods, such as jams, and allow other sweeteners to be used in a wide variety of foods.  Even if you do have some lumping, you can usually stir out the lumps.  If not, add a bit more liquid and keep stirring.  As with most products, you do have to add in slowly for the most part, but to enjoy lump free sauces and gravies, there really is only one choice:  Ultra Gel.