Are you having trouble getting your family to take their supplements? Put them in fun delicious gummy form.

So easy, tasty and nutritious. Vegan option included.

My citrus vitamin C gummies. One square is one serving of vitamin C, approximately 1000mg.

This year back to school has a different feel for it. For my family, I’m trying to keep things as normal as possible. That means focusing of good nutrition to support good health. One of the ways I do that is by make delicious foods that my family enjoys and sneaking extra stuff in, like vitamin C, magnesium and probiotics!

This powdered vitamin C is lemon flavoured and mostly child friendly, but still sometimes it’s just easier to put it in a food. Thus Gummies were created.

My chosen ingredients for Citrus gummies.

Let’s start with the basic recipe and we can have some fun from there.

This is what I used, and mine were quite sour.

Immune boosting Citrus Gummies

1 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice (I used 5 lemons, including one I grew myself!- yes I’m going to brag about that! and 2 limes)
4 tbsp gelatin
4 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp ascorbate C powder
(1/2 tsp to 1 tbsp probiotic powder) I had planned to add this once it had cooled, so as to not kill the probiotics, but I forgot! Oh well, there’s always next time.

Directions:

Add your juice into saucepan. Do not turn on the heat yet. Sprinkle your gelatin (or agar agar) on top and allow it to sit and “bloom”- see picture below.
Whisk the gelatin into the juice and turn on heat to medium. If you are using a granulated sweetener such as sugar or monk fruit add it now. Don’t add honey yet.
Continue to stir frequently while the mixture warms to an almost boil. remove from heat. If you are using honey stir it in now.
Stir in vitamin C powder and vanilla. Pour into 8x8” square pan and refrigerate until solid.
If you’d like to add probiotic powder allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, then whisk in probiotic powder (amount will depend on brand used - about 1 tbsp). The pour mixture into 8x8 square pan and refrigerate until solid.
Cut into 24 squares to equal approximately one 500mg serving of vitamin C per square.

The gelatin really soaks up the juice as it “blooms.”

Pretty easy right?

Now here’s some other variations I’ve been playing with:

You certainly don’t have to use lemon and lime juice, in fact I don’t recommend it for young children, try it with orange juice. Any kind of juice will work (except pineapple juice- it won’t set well).

You can use other liquids instead of juice. Herbal tea would work well. I like hibiscus, rose hips and nettles for their immune boosting power, and they taste great together. Just allow the tea to cool before you add the gelatin or it will get all lumpy.

If you want to use kombucha or water kefir instead for the liquid, I’d recommend using 1 cup of juice or water to bloom the gelatin in and then heat to almost boiling. Then remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of your cold kefir or kombucha, vitamin C powder and pour into a square pan to set.

The vanilla extract is optional- I thought it balanced the sour taste well. You could try other extracts here as well.

You can use whatever sweetener you choose, honey is fantastic for all its healing properties, but other sugars work well too. You can adjust the sweetness to your family’s tastes.

You can also adjust the amount of gelatin to suit your family. I found this amount worked well for firm squares, it would also work well for molds. I have a couple cute ones that I didn’t use this time.

For a vegan option use an equal amount agar agar instead of gelatin. I haven’t tried this myself yet.

What combination do you want to try? I’d love to hear how it turns out.

Also if you’d like some help getting your kids to sleep easier, check out my previous blog post- Sleepy Time Cherry Magnesium Gummies!

As always, if you’d like help keeping your family healthy, I am here to support you. In office, phone, video and email consultations are available. Contact Lisa for more information.

Here’s my little lemon tree with two lemons that weren’t quite ready on it.

The information provided here is for educational purposes only. For treatment please seek a qualified healthcare provider.