Homemade Fruit Gummies

Here's an easy recipe for a little 'treat' in the lunchbox that's actually good for you! I experimented with lots of different flavours and the same basic recipe works for so many different fruits, so have a little play around and experiment with your own favourites! I tried orange, berry, passionfruit, lemon, green and golden kiwifruit and they were all yum...although golden kiwifruit came out the winner for my kids! We don't own a fancy juicer so just used an old-fashioned lemon squeezer. This meant I ended up with thick pulp in some cases rather than thin juice, but it still worked great! If you do have a good juicer, you can even try making gummies with vegetable juice.  

I also tried making smoothie gummies - using our normal fruit smoothie mix as the 'juice' component in the recipe. It worked in that the mixture set nicely and the gummies tasted like smoothie, but somehow that taste, combined with the jelly texture, was just a little too confusing for our taste buds and brains! I wonder if the same thing would happen if I combined mango pulp with coconut milk to make a tropical gummy? Hmmm....will have to keep experimenting and let you know! If you have the patience, you could even make layered gummies with a couple of different flavours (allowing each layer to set before adding the next). 

We bought our silicone moulds from KMart. They were only about $2 each. Bargain! 

WHAT YOU NEED:

3/4 cup juice or pulp (i.e. from actual fruit...not a bottle!)

2 Tablespoons honey (more or less to taste)

2 Tablespoons gelatine

WHAT TO DO:

Juice your fruit until you have 3/4 cup.

If you are using frozen berries, heat them very gently in a saucepan on the stove then mash them well. You will need to measure how much you have and alter the other ingredients accordingly. You might like to strain the berries to remove the seeds. We did with our berry gummies but kept the seeds in the kiwifruit versions. 

Pour into a saucepan and sprinkle gelatine over the top. Wait a minute or two until the gelatine has mostly dissolved into the fruit.

Add honey to the mix and heat very gently on the stove, stirring all the time. You might like to have a taste and check whether it needs more honey to sweeten. Once the honey has melted and the mixture is thoroughly combined, keep stirring for another minute or so until the gelatine is fully dissolved and you don't get any more bits of gelatine sticking to the sides of the pot. It won't necessarily thicken though. Take care not to let the mixture simmer or boil. 

Transfer mixture to a jug and carefully pour into silicone moulds. It's a good idea to place the mould on something stiff like a container lid first to make it easy to transfer the filled moulds to the fridge without any spills.

Leave in the fridge for a few hours until the gummies are set. You'll know when they are ready because they will come out of the moulds cleanly and easily. Store in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy a couple in your lunchbox! We'd love to know what flavours you tried and loved!

(Bear and Car cups, Yumbox and all accessories from The Lunchbox Queen. Silicone moulds for gummies from KMart.)