Homemade, All Natural, Berry Gummies

As a health and exercise enthusiast, I have pretty strong feelings regarding processed sugar consumption. These feelings increase when kids are involved. Our country is currently fighting a childhood obesity epidemic. Childhood obesity rates have more than doubled in the past 30 years to 18%.  I realize that sugar isn’t the only issue fueling this epidemic, but I would be willing to say it’s a major factor.

I believe that developing healthy eating habits starts at a very young age, from the time a baby starts eating real food. If a baby tastes processed sugar, they are sure to enjoy the taste and most likely want that taste again. But what if we fed our children foods made with natural sugars, such as those from berries? Instead of giving our children typical, sugar-filled gummy bears, what if we gave them gummies made from only berries, water, applesauce, and apple juice? Would they even know the difference from a young age?

These natural fruit gummies are so easy to make. They require very little prep time and few ingredients. My co-workers raved about them. They have more of a fruit rollup texture than the typical gummy bear, but the taste is the perfect combination of tangy and sweet. I used pure apple juice in my version, but I think orange juice would work even better.

Would you try making these for your family? I can’t wait to make them for my nephew!

Also, this is a great recipe to try when your berries are past their prime. I used some bruised and overripe berries (that most people would just throw away), and the recipe turned out perfect.  For more information on how to eliminate food waste, stay tuned for our newest e-book coming out Tuesday, March 1st! 

Ingredients

½ cup California Giant strawberries

½ cup California Giant blueberries

¼ cup water

½ cup sugar free applesauce

½ apple juice or orange juice

2 envelopes gelatin

Instructions

In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté berries in ¼ cup water until the berries have broken down. Use an immersion blender to puree berries until smooth. Add applesauce and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cover.

Pour apple juice into a medium bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over apple juice and let stand one minute. Add hot berry mixture to the apple juice and stir until gelatin dissolves.