Home made Gus and Powerbars
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007It is similar to (what’s commercially known as) Gu, and is far cheaper. It has been named (rather flippantly) Gu+.
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GU+ recipe
You need
- Polyjoule or Polycose powder (aka Maltodextrin) (found at your local chemist, mine is ChemMart)
- Gastrolyte sachets (ChemMart again)
- Red cordial (Cottee’s works for me, choose your own flavour)
- water
- mixing bowl
- fork/whisk to mix it
- squeeze tube (or similar) for the gel
Mix about 1.5 cups of polycose/polyjoule, 1 sachet of gastrolyte, and lastly add a generous amount of red cordial (enough to turn the powder into a gel, maybe 1/2 to 1 cup). Mix the ingredients for a minute of so. Depending on the consistency of the gel required, add small amount of water (no more than 1/2 cup) to get a ‘runnier’ gel.
Gu+ will probably be cloudy when freshly whisked. Importantly, let the gel settle overnight in the fridge in the bowl (with glad wrap over the top) to allow the polycose/polyjoule to dissolve fully. It will turn from a cloudy liquid to a more transparent red consistency.
Decant into squeezy tube before use.
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This makes about 6 shots, usually enough for 4 hours of bike or run. Make sure to have plenty of water (not gatorade) with each shot
so that you can absorb it.
Different people use differnt kinds of re-usable squeezy tubes. The ones I like are the Ultimate brand from Paddy Pallin, comes with a holster that attaches to my waterbelt. It has a top similar to a water bottle. I’ve also used a small kids juice bottle, and a plastic nalgene bottle with a screwtop lid.
Quoted recipe
Here it is again - the Good Biscuit as tested and raved about on rec.bicycles.tech. Also, there is a clip in the FAQ at http://draco.nac.uci.edu/rbfaq I clipped this recipe about 3-4 years ago, from a wreck.bikes newsgroup, and didn't make any of them. The topic came up again recently, so I reposted the recipe. And someone (please forgive me for not remembering who) made them. And they came out well. So then I felt really guilty, and I made some of my own. And they came out well too. Non-cyclists at work kept stopping by my desk to see if I had any more, So here is the recipe. Please let me know how they turn out. 1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour 3/4 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1/4 cup wheat germ 0.5 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1/3 cup corn, safflower, or light olive oil 1/4 cup molasses (or equivalent mix of molasses and honey) (the honey mix is sweeter, I find all molasses a little bitter) 1/4 cup RAW sugar (not white refined sugar) 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel (California orange NOT Florida) 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup orange juice (fresh JUICED from those California oranges) 1 cup chopped dried figs (or 1.5 cups total dried fruit) 1/2 cup golden raisins (I used 1 cup figs, 0.5 dry strawberries) 1/2 cup chopped almonds (or other nuts) Combine flours, sugar, wheat, wheat germ, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In smaller bowl, blend eggs, butter, honey, molasses, orange peel, vanilla, and orange juice with wire whip. Add liquid to dry ingredients; whip until smooth. Add figs, raisins, and almonds. Spread in a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F oven for 35 minutes, until it tests done. Makes about 24 bars.
