{Healthier} Herbal Jello

I knew when I posted about making Herbal Jello as a great way to get therapeutic levels of herbs into a picky kid or too-sick-to-eat-much individual, that there would be some unable to use the recipe because of the sugar and artificial ingredients contained in regular Jello.

While you can find Jello without artificial dyes & flavors (like these), I also wanted to post this addendum to show that you can make another version, without using table sugar as a sweetener.

Basically, we’re just creating the gelatin that you start off with on the introductory stage of The Specific Carbohydrate Diet and giving it a “kick” with added herbs. This is the diet that played a major part in healing my son and I can’t say enough good things about it! It’s a tough diet to follow, but fun foods like homemade jello (and honey candies!) makes it a lot easier on a kid.

Did you know that kosher gelatin sourced from healthy, grass-fed beef is available? Otherwise, you can use Unflavored Gelatin (such as Knox brand) available in your grocery store, most likely found near the boxes of regular Jello.

{Healthier} Herbal Jello

• 2 cups of 100% fruit juice
• 2 one-ounce envelopes of unflavored gelatin or 2 tablespoons Great Lakes unflavored gelatin
• herbs of your choice (see list below)
• (optional) tablespoon of honey for extra sweetening

Directions to Make Healthy Herbal Jello

1. Set aside 1/2 cup of chilled juice in a heat proof mixing bowl.
2. Place the herbs you want to use in a jar. For dried herbs, use about 1 teaspoon (if finely powdered or strongly flavored) to 3 teaspoons for bulkier pieces like elderberries. If using fresh herbs, chop and fill the jar as much as you can.
3. Heat 1 1/2 cups of juice to almost boiling, pour over the herbs and cover with a saucer.
4. Allow to steep for about 15 or 20 minutes, strain, then return to heat and bring to a boil. This will happen quickly, since the mixture is still fairly warm
5. While the juice is reheating, sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over the reserved chilled juice and let sit for 1 minute.
6. Carefully, pour the boiling juice over the gelatin/chilled juice mixture and stir for about 5 minutes until dissolved, adding honey a minute or two into your mixing. (I don’t add honey, we think fruit juice by itself is sweet enough.)
7. Pour into desired mold. I use glass bread pans for this size of a batch.
8. Cool in your fridge for about three hours, then cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

Note: If using powdered herbs such as olive leaf, make sure to strain through something such as a coffee filter or other fine medium. Otherwise, the herbal residue might settle to the bottom of the gelatin and become detectable.

I like to grow my own herbs or buy them from Mountain Rose Herbs. Some ideas to get you started:

• Astragalus Root: Wonderful for restoring stamina and energy. Very well tolerated by most people.
• Elderberry: extremely useful antiviral, helps give gelatin a pretty red color
• Lemon Balm: helpful for viral infections, cold sores, tummy upsets; it’s calming and conducive to a restful sleep
• Olive Leaf: antibacterial, antiviral, lowers fevers (use lightly to avoid a strong flavor)
• Peppermint: indigestion, colic
• Chamomile: anti-inflammatory, soothes muscle spasms in stomach, calming, induces sleep; use caution if highly allergic to ragweed
• Ginger: antibacterial, antiparasitic, helps colds and upset stomachs, very effective for nausea, indigestion and morning sickness
• Blackberry leaf: helpful for mild diarrhea and sore throat

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