We are big fans of gelatin at our house and we use it in a lot of different ways. These homemade fruit snacks and homemade marshmallows are the kid-favorites in our house, and I can feel good about giving it to them since it is a source of protein and vitamins.
Erase the idea of gummy bears as a junky treat from your mind… these homemade fruit snacks look just like them (although their texture is a little softer, like jello) but they’re actually health food!
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Healthy Gummy Bears? Yes!
Why make homemade fruit snacks? I can think of three good reasons:
- It’s a really quick and easy recipe (even the kids can do this one themselves)
- They are SO much healthier than store-bought
- They’re really fun to make!
Not only do these fruit snacks have no artificial colors or flavors, they have the gut-soothing benefits and protein of gelatin. The kombucha adds nutrients as well, making these fruit snacks even healthier.
Tip: Add additional nutrition by make these chewable vitamins instead or make them flu-busting gummy bears with a few simple substitutions.
How to Make Homemade Fruit Snacks
Again, this recipe is super simple. All you need is kombucha or fruit juice (100% juice or freshly squeezed), a candy mold, and powdered unflavored gelatin from a good (grass-fed) source.
Heat the juice or kombucha, whisk in the gelatin, pour into molds, and let it set! You’ll have fruit snacks for a crowd in no time.
If you don’t have a mold, an oiled container works in a pinch. Cut gummies into small cubes once set.
Go with the classic bear shaped molds or try fun assorted geometric shapes, dinosaur molds, bugs and flowers, and even this unlikely combo Lego/hearts set so you have something to please everyone!
The recipe fills about 4-5 of these molds, or a medium baking dish (oiled). If you use a baking dish, just cut the fruit snacks once they gel. If you use the molds, stick them in the refrigerator to firm up. Tip: After they are set, put them in the freezer for 5 minutes to make them come out easier.
There really are endless ways this recipe could be adapted, and I’ve included our favorite below. If you experiment with different flavors or combinations, please share them below!
Homemade Fruit Snacks Recipe
Servings
Nutrition
Notes
- It is important to have all ingredients ready before beginning as you'll need to work quickly once you start.
- Make sure you are using gelatin, not collagen hydrolysate or peptides as they will not gel. I've also had some feedback that the Great Lakes brand of gelatin doesn't work well in this recipe.
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What is your favorite healthy homemade snack? Ever made any like these? Share below!
Can you use just water as the base if you want to keep it low sugar instead of juice or kombucha?
What purpose does the honey or syrup have? Can I leave it out? What will happen? Is there any substitute that is sugar free?
Also once these are set, can I keep them out at room temperature in a bowl or do they have to be refridgerated?
Kombucha is naturally low sugar because of the fermentation process unless the manufacturer adds sugar to the final product. Raw honey has a wide variety of health benefits and is hypoglycemic (helps lower blood sugar) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5817209/ Without any juice or sweetener it would be gelatin water which isn’t very palatable and they would be very firm. You could try substituting the honey for more juice or kombucha, but I wouldn’t eliminate both.
It’s best to refrigerate these because otherwise the texture can become too soft and it risks spoilage.
This is a great recipe. I really need the gelatin for my joints as I’ve been having trouble lately. I am disappointed that the texture is more like a stiff Jell-O rather than gummy, but they are edible.
I know this is several years later, but I’m appalled by the fact that someone would come on here and spread such negativity (Ann’s vegan dogma). It’s okay to be vegan, but this is not the place to tell everyone how terrible you think they are for eating animal products. In fact, there’s really no place for that. If you don’t like what’s here, kindly go to a different website.
I agree that animals are generally very disrespected, but that’s mainly in conventional food production where they value quantity over quality for the sake of profit. It is correct that as long as people continue to buy animal products from factory farms, poor practices will continue. These are places where animals are abused, fed unnatural diets, and pumped with antibiotics and other ridiculous things to increase yields.
However, there are a growing number of ranchers who care about being kind to their animals by letting them graze on open pasture in the sunshine. These animals, eating a natural diet, are much healthier and are essential for the ecosystem. I have studied with Native Americans whose traditional diets include eating meat. I am in awe but the reverence they traditionally gave to these creatures. I realize there are many different tribes with varying practices, but essentially, most tribes would pray or in some other way ask the animal for permission to kill them for sustenance. They would thank the animal for its sacrifice and the Creator as well. It can’t get any more respectful than that.
I buy my meat from a rancher that I know personally. We should all do that, if we do choose to use animal products and we don’t hunt like indigenous cultures. I know how my meat is raised and I know it’s done ethically. When I need something that the rancher can’t provide, I at least make sure it’s from a grass-fed animal and pasture-raised. I don’t just buy the cheap stuff from the factory farms. Not only are pastured products more ethical, but they are much more nutritious for us as well.
I know a few people have mentioned here that plants have feelings. This is really true for everything. Look up the rice experiment. I’ve replicated it myself. If plants and animals are treated with respect, they grow more abundantly and are better for us to consume. People are healthier when treated with respect, too!