“My childhood may be over, but that doesn’t mean playtime is.”
~ Ron Olson
Food for Your Inner Child (and your Health)
What other food brings you back to childhood as quickly as Jello? It’s wacky, wild and wiggly! And if you make it yourself, it’s also good for you – a far cry from the store-bought version. Check out the difference:
- Store-bought Jello Ingredients: Sugar, Gelatin, Adipic Acid, Disodium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Fumaric Acid, Tannic Acid, Red 40, Blue 2.
- Homemade Jello Ingredients: Organic Juice, Grass-fed Gelatin
Benefits of Gelatin
- Once upon a time, people used to eat all the parts of an animal: muscle meats, fatty meats, bone broths and organ meats. Each of these has a different amino acid profile that benefits our bodies when eaten in balance. However, modern society focuses almost solely on muscle meats, giving us a narrow amino acid profile. Gelatin provides the missing amino acids.
- Gelatin contains collagen, which is the main structural protein in the body. It’s most abundant in skin, tendons, and ligaments, but it’s also an essential building block for the intestinal lining, intervertebral discs, blood vessels, muscles, bones, organs, eyes, hair, teeth, and more.
- When taken before bed, gelatin also improves sleep.
Juice Jello (Paleo, AIP, GAPS)
- Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 4 cups organic juice (divided)
- 1/4 cup grass-fed gelatin
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup of juice into a large measuring cup or bowl, and add gelatin powder. Let sit for 1 minute to let it bloom. (It will turn into a gel that will dissolve more easily in the next steps).
- Pour the remaining juice into a saucepan & heat over medium heat until warm.
- Transfer the cold juice-bloomed gelatin mixture to the saucepan and stir until evenly blended.
- Pour the jello into a pyrex dish or small ramekins. Cover and refrigerate until set (usually about 4 hours). In the photo above, I used a small cookie cutter after it was set to create the little hearts.
Notes
- Conventional juice contains pesticide residue, which is why I recommend organic. As for the gelatin, you can buy conventional Knox gelatin from the grocery store, but if you make jello regularly, that's actually an expensive choice for a low quality product. Grass-fed gelatin is available in bulk online. I use the brand Great Lakes (red can).
- If you're lucky enough to have a fruit tree in your back yard, and want to make jello with fresh-pressed juice, only heat 1 cup of your juice and keep the rest cold, to preserve raw juice enzymes. Storebought juice has already been pasteurized, so this isn't a concern, and heating more of the juice makes a smoother texture of jello.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Treats
- Method: Stovetop
Keywords: paleo, aip, gaps, healing foods: juice jello
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