Homemade Vitamin Gummies for the Littlies

I have seen my daughter hoover up a handful of store bought vitamin C gummies and beg for more and it got me thinking. As a naturopath at a supplement company, I have a veritable treasure chest of vitamin and mineral powders floating around in my pantry. What if I could shove all the powders and other bits and bobs that the kids turn up their little noses at and cannily describe them as a yummy jelly gummy?

I came across a base recipe and voila I was off! There is no limit (well, aside from the really nasty tasting stuff) to what you could put into these puppies and this weekend, I think I tried most! I bought some nice little silicone moulds used for chocolates and they worked a treat! In fact the two miss sixes were asking for more!  

So what do you put in em?

•  ½ cup of juice- Now this can be from the supermarket or you could make your own. I actually blended a whole heap of berries into juice and put it through some muslin cloth- yum! You can also use herbal teas, kombucha, kefir, coconut water- whatever you like! 
• 8 teaspoons of gelatine- get the good stuff like beef gelatin- im sure the kids wouldn’t want pony hooves in their gummies!
• Something to sweeten- I use stevia powder, but you could use xylitol, honey, agave, coconut nectar or glucose 
• The therapeutic stuff-It totally depends on your needs but some great ideas are-
• Vitamin C powder, acerola cherry extract
• Magnesium powder 
• Liquid mineral drops 
• Multivitamin powder
• Chlorella or spirulina 
• Barley or wheatgrass 
• Acai, goji or the latest superfruit! 
• Berry concentrates  
• Your choice of herbal extracts – chamomile, zizyphus, california poppy, or some of the more stimulating ones like rhodiola or ginseng- not for the kids though! 

How do you do it?

Put the juice, sweetener and gelatine in a pot and stir until blended over a low heat. Be gentle.  It should end up having a syrupy consistency and be slightly warm. Remove from heat and stir through the therapeutic stuff you want in it.   This mixture makes about 35-40 small chocolate sized gummies (see pic) so work out the amount you want in each gummie and add the corresponding amount.

These will keep well in the fridge in an airtight container, if they last that long!