Homemade Gummy Snacks

Homemade Gummies are so incredibly easy to make – you will wonder why you even bought them in the store. 

These gummies, above, were made in minutes – a fraction of the time it would have taken me to dress the kids, buckle them into their car seat and drive them to the store to find gummies on the shelf.

Not to mention they are healthy – taste amazing and contain only the ingredients i would like to see in a gummy.

There are so many benefits that can come from eating gelatin – including support for your skin, mental health and digestive system.

But right now, we’re not eating enough of it – while we can make many of the amino acids in gelatin on our own, we require more as we get older, not to mention if we have high levels of inflammation, a leaky gut, or weak joints.

Gelatin has some pretty good benefits:

It can help you sleep better – as the glycine from gelatin helps support healthy sleep quality. 

Gelatin can support your mental health – that same glycine that helps you sleep is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter – that decreases anxiety and promotes clarity. The reason it can do that is because glycine balances norepinephrine – which is a stress hormone that causes your feelings of panic and anxiety in the first place.

Gelatin supports healthy skin – glycine and proline are two amino acids that are used in the production of collagen. Collagen is a building block for healthy skin.  Eating gelatin can help with the adverse effects of wrinkles, and sunlight. (src)

Gelatin can help repair your gut – it enhances gastric acid secretion and restore that lining of the stomach. One of the problems with a leaky gut is low stomach acid and – gelatin absorbs water and helps keep fluid “in” the digestive tract, which then helps to repair the gut over time.  Repairing leaky gut means helping with those autoimmune issues, food intolerances and food allergies you may have once had.

Muscle meats (and eggs) are a source of methionine. Methionine is an amino acid that increases the need for homocysteine neutralizing nutrients (B6, B12, folate, choline).  Too much homocysteine in the blood can lead to heart disease, mental illness, fractures (which might be one of the reasons a diet high in meat correlates to several diseases).  To balance out the methionine from meat you need sufficient glycine (from gelatin).

There are a few types of gelatin out there – whole protein gelatin (which is what is used to make gummies) and hydrolyzed – which is used to mix into smoothies and juices easily … it’s much like a protein powder.

We reach for Vital Proteins Collagen Protein, Pasture-Raised, Grass Fed, Non-GMO – it’s available in a tub on Amazon. A tub will last you quite a long time. You want the green lid (not the blue lid) if you are making gummies.

If you are unwilling to use gelatin, you can use agar agar – the only difference in making them is that you will need to actually boil the liquid to allow the agar agar to dissolve (versus using gelatin – you simply need to just get the liquid very warm).

These fruit snacks are great for the gut, skin, and fun – you can pick up some neat shapes like these gummy bears that I got, or Lego men – your kids will go crazy and probably want to play with them before they eat them.

Blocks and Robots (8 pc)

Gummy Bears (3 pc)

We used Young Living’s NingXia Red to make our gummies – it’s a whole body infusion of a beverage that is sweetened with Stevia – but you can also use 100% juice (with no added sugar) or even Kombucha, too.

Here are some tips that you will need to follow when making gummies at home:

Do not use mango, or pineapple juice unless you boil it first. These fruits contain bromelain – which is an enzyme that denatures the gelatin (meaning that it won’t set properly).

If you are using gelatin, when you heat up the juice, do not heat it to boiling – you want the liquid warm, but not too hot. If it’s too hot, the gummies won’t set.

Once you heat up the liquid, sprinkle in the gelatin very slowly while whisking – which will prevent clumping. If you mix it all at once, then you will have some pretty big clumps. If you see foam atop your liquid after heating, that is O.K. – just skim it off the top before you mix in the gelatin.

You will need to use a full 2 Tbsp of gelatin per 1 C. of liquid – anything less and they won’t set properly in the mold. There is no reason to grease your silicone molds – if you use sufficient gelatin, the gummies will pop right out. If you are using a baking dish, however, then you do need to grease prior to pouring in the liquid.

You can get creative too – use pureed fruit or experiment with your own combinations.

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