Making “Medicine Jelly”

“Medicine Jelly” we call it in my house. Or you could call it the kid-friendly, time saving way to give them a dose of their vitamins. I think the first term is much more catchy though don’t you?

I find setting vitamins into a firm jelly really helps simplify our morning routine. I can make a batch every few days and cut into required portions, sending the kids off to the fridge to get a square of it. It saves time and mess of having to dose out individual doses of powder, dissolving it into fluid, purees or food and then ensure they drink it all. From a compliance factor it helps too- my children love it, often asking if it’s time for a dose, rather than it being a battle.

Here I’ll provide a basic outline of how I make our immune-boosting jelly, and you can play with it as you will to suit your child’s preferences for flavour and texture.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups fluid*
• 2 tablespoons Grass fed, preservative-free gelatin (I use great lakes)
• The supplement/s you are mixing in*

Method:

• Add the gelatin to the water in a small saucepan and mix. Set aside and allow to swell and “bloom” for a few minutes.
• Turn the stove on to low and allow the water and gelatin mix to slowly heat up, stirring occasionally.
• As the water warms, the gelatin will melt. There’s no need to boil, simply heat gently just until the gelatin has fully dissolved. Once dissolved, remove from the heat and set aside to cool a little.
• Once the gelatin mix has cooled enough to touch (but not so much it starts to set), stir in your supplement. Pour into a shallow flat container (I use a small, rectangle glass pyrex dish) and allow to set in the fridge.
• Once set, cut into the required amount of pieces to correctly portion out the dosages of the supplement.

* The fluid you choose depends on your child’s taste as well as the flavour (if any) of the supplement needing to be mixed in. Try water, coconut water, herbal teas, juice, coconut cream etc. Our immune supplement is either raspberry or orange flavoured and is tasty enough to be mixed in plain water.

* The amount of supplement depends on the dose required. In the case of this particular supplement, based on my children’s body weight, a dose is 1/4 teaspoon. Therefore 3 teaspoons provides 12 doses and I simply need to cut the set jelly in to 12 even pieces to portion out the doses.