After the customs issues, starting in 2025, there has been a growing number of cases where KB jelly imported from Japan has been discarded by U.S. customs.
Two possible reasons can be suspected.
Either the gelling agent, gelatin, was flagged and disposed of as an animal-derived protein, or the products lacked a clearly labeled ingredient list.
Since there are no companies in the U.S. that manufacture insect jelly,
I had been considering making my own for a long time as a way to reduce costs.
However, once I actually looked into the required ingredients and calculated the costs,
the process turned out to be more complex than expected, and the price difference between making it myself and importing it was not very significant.
As a result, back in 2019, I briefly used homemade jelly made by simply mixing mashed bananas or brown sugar with gelatin.
Compared to KB jelly, the brown sugar jelly showed a weaker feeding response, while the banana jelly developed mold, hardened, or attracted fruit flies and mites almost immediately, even when left in the rearing container for just one day.
The banana jelly I made in 2019.
The insects’ response wasn’t bad, but it required daily replacement, which was quite inconvenient.
But now that imports have become an issue, I believe it’s time to start producing it myself.
First, I needed to set a few goals.
▪ To create a jelly that insects respond to well.
▪ To ensure it remains stable in the rearing environment for more than two days without spoiling.
▪ To ensure it can be stored in the refrigerator for over a month without deterioration.
With these three goals in mind, I began making the jelly.
I wanted it to be as close as possible to Japan’s KB jelly, which many breeders trust the most.
Fortunately, the ingredients of KB jelly are disclosed to some extent.
Looking at the ingredient list, the sugar components include sucrose, dextrose, and trehalose,
while the protein sources are nonfat dry milk and milk protein.
Hmm… since there are no colored ingredients, it makes sense that the jelly is white.
However, there is no way to know the most critical details, such as the gelling agent, the type of added fruit juice, or the ingredient ratios.
I sought advice from a friend who works as a pastry chef at a hotel.
To keep ingredient costs down, I always produced the jelly in 15-oz batches.
Adjusting the ratio of the gelling agents turned out to be more difficult than expected, making it hard to achieve the desired firmness.
Two versions were made, a banana version and a regular version.
Since banana powder is yellow in color, the jelly naturally takes on a slightly yellow tint.
When opening KB jelly, the aroma is quite similar to banana, which leads me to believe that the added fruit juice is also banana.
However, because I can’t think of any other fruit that would maintain a white color, it
seems likely that only a very small amount is used.
After one week of indoor storage in a pudding cup that was a little open.
The jelly on the far left was made with roughly three times the amount of gelling agent compared to the standard formula, but mold began to appear after about four days.
The banana jelly and the regular jelly did not develop mold.
But from around the fifth day, slight discoloration indicating early spoilage became noticeable.
There was also a sour smell.
This odor is caused by the slow fermentation of sugars, and KB jelly, despite containing no preservatives, shows the same behavior.
The yellowing occurs due to the high sugar and protein content.
Likewise, this is the same reaction observed when KB jelly is left at room temperature for extended periods.
I measured the pH of both LB jelly and KB jelly.
About 50 g of each jelly was mashed, then mixed with an equal amount of water at a 1:1 ratio.
After letting the mixture sit for about five minutes, the pH could be measured.
The pH of KB jelly was 3.3.
When tasted, it has a slight sourness, which is likely due to this acidity.
LB jelly measured at 3.7 pH, and while it could be lowered further, I personally feel this level is sufficient.
Looking at the KB Farm website, there is no statement claiming that only KB jelly is made without flavorings.
From my own experience of making jelly continuously over several months, I understood that it would be impossible to produce such a strong aroma without volatile flavorings.
While thinking through various options, my old friend Lucas A suggested trying a squeeze-type, pouch-style jelly.
I had previously seen jelly bottles made by the Japanese company Fujikon, which are now rarely sold, so I felt it was a reasonable suggestion.
I later sent samples of the finished jelly to Lucas A and a few other friends.
Lucas A commented that the milk candy flavor felt far too artificial and wasn’t to his liking.
I found myself largely agreeing with his assessment, so I decided to remove the milk candy flavor from the formula.
There was also another issue.
With the gelling agents I was using at the time, it was not possible to squeeze out a solid, moisture-retaining jelly from a pouch.
To dispense it, the pouch had to be pressed to break down the jelly and push it through a small opening, but during that process, it would turn watery.
No matter how I adjusted the ratios of the gelling agents, I couldn’t resolve this problem.
So once again, I asked my pastry chef friend for advice and am now experimenting with an entirely different gelling agent.
About 40 days after the final product was made
Refrigerated jar (Left) / Room-temperature vial (Right)
There were no visible signs of spoilage in either sample.
However, the vial that was stored at room temperature began to show a very gradual change in odor after about 30 days.
Even now, at 40 days, the sealed condition has prevented any sour smell from developing, but the sweet aroma has almost completely faded.
The storage condition involved exposing the samples to air for one minute each day.
The jar that had been stored in the refrigerator still smelled fresh and retained a sweet aroma.
Overall, I consider this a very successful result.
That said, when shipping during extreme summer heat, there is no guarantee that the product will not spoil in transit or that its shelf life will not be significantly shortened.
For that reason, I began considering a powdered version of the product, which would reduce shipping costs, offer a much longer shelf life, and allow safe delivery year-round.
Fortunately, I already sell a powdered DIY insect jelly imported from a Korean insect farm in my shop,
So I decided to seek advice from that farm.
When making insect jelly, a large number of ingredients are involved, and some must be added at different temperatures.
To allow all ingredients to be added at once to boiling water, fine adjustments to the overall ingredient ratios are required.
The pouch-style version, which requires a new gelling agent, is still in the testing phase.
However, after receiving advice from a Korean insect farm, I was able to develop an LB jelly that can be sold in sealed containers, as well as in powdered form.
The remaining challenge is flavoring.
Liquid banana flavorings are easy to find, but natural, powder-based banana flavorings are surprisingly difficult to source.
I found only one online shop that carries it and placed an order four weeks ago, but the shipment hasn’t even been dispatched yet lol.
I’ve never encountered an online shop like this before.
Since there’s no viable alternative at the moment, I’ll wait another week.
The powdered banana flavoring finally arrived after six weeks.
I ran some tests right away, and the results were very satisfying.
This means it can now be sold in a fully powdered form as well.
With the flavoring issue resolved, the next focus is on pouch-type jelly.
I switched to a gelling agent suitable for pouches and ran several tests, but no matter how I adjusted the amount, it only resulted in a thick, soup-like consistency rather than the texture I was aiming for.
After thinking it through, I came up with two possible causes:
1. Proteins may be interfering with the gelling agent, causing it to emulsify.
2. The pH might be too low to form a firm, bouncy gel.
First, I removed all protein-based ingredients and tried again, but it was still the same soup-like texture.
Then I purchased a calcium additive to raise the pH and tested again. It should have made a difference, but it didn’t.
Without calcium (left), with calcium (right)
At that point, I suspected either the process or the ingredients themselves, so I ran multiple small-batch tests using only sugar, water, gelling agent, and calcium, varying the order of addition.
And I found the cause.
The issue was the order in which the calcium was added.
Jelly with protein-based ingredients (left),
Jelly without protein-based ingredients (right)
Jelly without protein-based ingredients or calcium (left),
Jelly without protein-based ingredients and with a small amount of calcium (middle, right)
I’m having difficulty fine-tuning the calcium ratio.
Even at just 0.05%, the jelly develops a slightly unpleasant darker color, along with a bit of bitterness.
It needs to be reduced even further, but that also means the firmness of the jelly decreases.
After producing eight different batches, I was able to find a reasonably optimal ratio.
As a result, LB Jelly will initially be released in three types:
✅ LB Jelly – High Protein Banana (firm type)
✅ LB Jam – High Protein Banana (soft type)
✅ LB Gel – Banana (balanced type)
We also plan to explore powdered versions and a variety of fruit flavors in the future.
Additional Updates:
After continuing to make samples and think things through, I decided it would be better to minimize the number of flavors and types at launch to first gauge customer response.
So, excluding the jam type, I’ve decided to move forward by initially releasing the two main products, Jelly and Gel, each with just two flavors.
I sent out samples of both the finished Jelly type and Gel type to sellers.
The temperature wasn’t particularly hot, ranging between 72°F and 82°F, but just in case,
I packed the samples with ice packs wrapped in paper inside insulated bags.
Photo received from Lucas (the jelly layers have collapsed)
Video received from Sodapop (the jelly has broken down and turned almost liquid.
The problem was that the condition of the samples upon arrival was very poor.
It was as if the structure of the jelly had completely broken down, with about half of it turning into liquid.
There are two possible causes.
temperature fluctuation or an issue with the packaging method.
As for temperature, I still had four bottles from the same batch stored in the refrigerator at the time the samples were sent.
So I decided to run an experiment using three different methods.
All samples were transferred immediately after being taken out of the fridge, so there was likely some degree of sudden temperature change involved.
A. Left in an indoor grow tent above 86°F for 48 hours
B. Left at an indoor temperature of 76°F for 48 hours
C. Left for 48 hours in insulated bag packaging with an ice pack (room temperature 80°F)
A-1: Temperature after being taken out of the fridge: 47°F
A-2: Grow tent interior temperature: 86°F
A-3: Placed inside (may rise slightly higher due to fermentation heat)
A-4: After 48 hours, the jelly temperature was 83°F.
A-5: As for its condition, a few drops of moisture formed on the surface,
But there was no change in taste or texture.
B-1: Temperature after being taken out of the fridge: 47°F
B-2: Room temperature: 76°F
B-3: Placed inside (At night, the temperature drops by about 3-4°F.)
B-4: After 48 hours, the jelly temperature was 74°F.
B-5: As for its condition, a few drops of moisture formed on the surface, but there was no change in taste or texture.
C-1: Temperature after being taken out of the fridge: 41°F
C-2: Ice pack temperature: 16°F
C-3: Temperature when the ice pack is wrapped in paper: 62°F 
C-4: Packed in an insulated bag with a thermometer.
C-5: After 48 hours, the jelly temperature was 72°F.
C-6: As for its condition, a few drops of moisture formed on the surface, but there was no change in taste or texture.
But the amount of moisture that appeared on the surface was the highest among all the tests.
C-7: The temperature inside the insulated bag ranged from about 56°F at the lowest to around 74°F at the highest.
After running the three tests, there weren’t any significant changes to the jelly.
Both the taste and texture were still fine for use.
One possible explanation is that the jelly may have frozen and then thawed due to the ice pack.
However, as shown in the results from test C, an ice pack wrapped in multiple layers of paper doesn’t drop the temperature low enough to freeze the jelly.
Then the only remaining issue is the packaging method.
One thing that stands out is the “gap.”
The container in the photo is 6.8 oz in size, but if it fill it completely, it can actually hold a little over 8 oz.
So when it’s only filled to 6.8 oz, there’s about a half-inch gap between the lid and the jelly.
The problem is that the jelly, like KB, is made to be very soft.
During shipping, the box gets shaken, causing the jelly inside to flip around.
Because of that gap, the jelly keeps getting disrupted, and its gel structure may break down over time.
The solution is actually pretty simple.
Fill the container with jelly while leaving only a very small gap, and when packing, make sure to use enough cushioning so nothing can move around.
If the shipping destination isn’t above 86°F, it’s better to ship without an ice pack.
Honestly, freezing temperatures in winter might be more of a concern, rather than using heat packs, it would probably be better to use an office pickup service.
Anyway, there were no issues at all with the Gel type.
Honestly, I’m even considering making it the main product.