Red Gummy Bears (Made with TuMe Turmeric Water)
My red gummy bear recipe is here. I apologize for the delay, as I was completely out of commission last week with my very first sinus infection. My lanta - that was not a fun experience! I am slowly getting back to normal and able to share this amazing recipe with you.
This started out as a Green Gummy Bear mission. I was so determined to make green gummies after a popular juice place made some that I wasn’t too thrilled about. You can read more about that here. I will say this, though - most gummy candies out there are filled with all kinds of sugar, unhealthy ingredients and fake food dyes that are just so bad for you. I added the total number of grams of sugar and carbs per 25 bears at the end of the blog. It’s way lower than you would ever believe!
So I really got to thinking, I definitely need to make different colors and different flavors of gummy bears as soon as possible. My mind started racing and combining all sorts of flavors and colors that I could make.
I wanted to use some of my favorite drinks to make these gummy bears, and, of course, I had to use one of TuMe’s Turmeric drinks. Their Mango Turmeric drink and Berries are my legit favs, but since I already had a drink chosen GT Mystic Mango Booch for the yellow gummy bears, I decided to go with the Berries for this recipe - that was a great decision.
Let me tell you about a few of these ingredients that I used:
TuMe Berries Drink - I found TuMe at Expo West 2016 and it has been a family favorite ever since. I love that it’s low in sugar and, goodness, it tastes delicious! Their turmeric infused water combines the ancient healing powers of turmeric, known to contain antioxidant and vitamins with fabulous flavors, like mango, to create a healthy and natural sports drink that is above all the rest.
TuMe uses real ingredients that have real benefits to create these hydrating and incredibly refreshing drinks. TuMe Water come in 5 flavors now. Their first 3 flavors are Berries, Citrus, Mango and their brand new flavors are Pomegranate and Coconut Water. All of which are infused with turmeric and all of which are so good. I have found TuMe Water at Sprouts and Whole Foods. Check their Store Locator HERE.
To really make the red POP, I used Color Kitchen Foods Natural Red Food Coloring that is made from beets.
Vital Proteins Beef Gelatin - This pasture-raised, grass-fed bovine hide gelatin powder has health, fitness and beauty benefits. Collagen protein is used to promote digestive health. It is the most abundant protein in the body and is great for hair, skin, nails, bones, tendons, joints and even cartilage. I use their collagen peptides or marine collagen in my smoothies every single day, and put it in my coffee, hot chocolate and more. I even travel with their single-serving packets to make sure I can get good protein on-the-go.
Sweet Leaf Stevia Water Drops - I have loved this stuff for a long time. When I first found out that I had PCOS and that I had to do a major cleanse/detox (eliminating cane sugar, wheat, corn, dairy, soy and everything else I was eating), I panicked until I found this awesome company that makes flavored liquid stevia drops. I love the lemon, berry or grape in my iced tea, to sweeten water or in these gummy bears. I decided to make these bears a little sweeter by adding a small amount of the liquid Berry Stevia to the mixture and it worked beautifully! You can use these drops for anything!
Rigoni Di Asiago Dolcedi Sweetener - This is a great alternative to honey if you are vegan or don't like the taste of honey. I am not vegan, and I do like the taste of honey, but I am obsessed with this sweetener as it is made of 100% organic apples. That is the only ingredient. It takes 10lbs of apples to make one bottle of this organic, low-glycemic sweetener. I honestly tried to make these gummy bears without it, but the texture was off. I wanted to add something that wouldn't add a ton of calories or carbs, and this was my immediate thought. It's thick and syrupy and great for baking or drizzling on everything.
Color Kitchen Foods Natural Food Coloring - These fabulous powdered food colors are made from turmeric, spirulina and beets. I have used these amazing food colors in frosting, to make vegan, gluten free pink Mickey Mouse Rice Krispee treats, in cakes and more. They are beautifully vibrant and using the color theory you can make all sorts of colors. I used one yellow and one blue packet to make some beautiful green gummy bears, one yellow packet to make the yellow gummy bears and one pink packet to make these red gummy bears.
With just a handful of ingredients, all gluten-free and dairy-free, the actually healthy red gummy bear was born.
I have made 4 different colors and flavors now. Click HERE for the GREEN gummy bear recipe and click HERE for the YELLOW gummy bear recipe. The recipe for the BLUE will be posted very soon.
__________
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups TuME's Water Berries Drink
1/4 cup Vital Proteins Beef Gelatin
1 1/2 TB Dolcedi*
6-10 drops Sweet Leaf Berry Stevia**
1 packet Color Kitchen Foods Red Natural Food Coloring***
*I don't recommend that you leave this ingredient out. If you can't have this sweetener or are allergic, you could try to use honey, but I don't know the outcome of the gummy bears. I suppose it would work, but I have not tried it.
**I initially made these without any stevia drops and they weren't sweet. The berries turmeric water is somewhat sweet... but the stevia really makes it gummy bear sweet.
***As I stated above, you can leave out the food coloring, but, in my opinion, they aren't as fun unless they are bright red.
Directions:
In a small sauce pan, pour your TuMe Water, Dolcedi and Sweet Leaf Berry Stevia and stir on medium heat. Add in your food coloring packet and stir.
Turn your sauce pan on medium-high and just before it starts to boil, carefully pour your gelatin powder a little tiny bit at a time while whisking. This takes patience, as you don't want any of the gelatin to clump. Pour the mixture into a silicone measuring cup or tall glass cup (be careful that you don't burn yourself).
Note - If it does leave a few clumps, no worries. This is how you fix it: 1) use a spoon to scoop out
the big pieces of gelatin or 2) pour mixture through a small strainer over a measuring up. One of
those options will be easy for you. I tried both and they worked great. Keep in mind, you need to
pour mixture into a cup or glass anyway for the next step.
Using the dropper, carefully pour some liquid in each gummy bear mold to the top. If you don't pour enough then your gummy with have super tiny faces. You will get the hang of it after a few bears. To ensure bear molds are completely filled to the top, you can get down eye level and look at it from the side. You will be able to see which bears need more mixture. Once your molds are filled with liquid, let them sit for 10 minutes before you transfer them to the freezer for 17-20 minutes.
Note - These molds are flimsy which help to remove the bears when they harden, but you
definitely don't want to spill any of the liquid that you just carefully poured in. Make sure you
let them sit out on the counter for at least 10 minutes before placing them in the freezer.
Carefully take the molds out of the freezer. The gummies should be hard. If they have a little ice on or around it, that's fine. Pop each gummy out onto a plate and allow to "thaw" before eating them. I have tried freezing and refrigerating, and the best way to ensure that each gummy bear releases from the mold without missing any bear body parts is by freezing them in the mold for 17-20 minutes.
Store red gummy bears in a jar or container in the fridge for better texture. Keep them up to 7 days, if you think they will last that long, anyway.
While I am unsure of all the nutritional information, I do know that if you ate 25 red gummy bears, it would be roughly 2.5g sugar and 3g carbs. That is a lot of bears and not a lot of sugar or carbs, especially when you compare it to the carbs and sugar in conventional gummy bears.
I will be making this recipe again and again. I am so thrilled at how they turned out and hope you love them as much as we do.
Follow me on Instagram. I make recipes like this one on my stories, step-by-step each week. You might even catch me making these red gummy bears sometime soon!
