Fruit Juice Gelatin

by KimiHarris on August 26, 2008

I am still on the quest of finding new things to pack in my husband’s lunch. This recipe was actually an “old” recipe that I had forgotten about and rediscovered. It’s based off of a recipe shared by a close family friend growing up.

By the way, The Nourishing Portable Food Carnival is tomorrow, so get those ideas ready to share! As I have at least two more posts to share for the Carnival, I am getting a head start by sharing this one today.

Making your own gelatin desserts are very simple to make. There is absolutely no need to buy those sugary, fake flavored jello boxes! For a much more satisfying and natural snack, you can use fruit juice and fruit to make your own “jello”. It’s great for lunches, snacks, taking on picnics, and even as part of a dinner. Because it tastes so much better, and looks so much nicer, my family used to serve this often to relatives or guests and it always went over very well. It’s a more gourmet, nourishing choice, that also doesn’t take much more work than making jello! We also found that people not “into” health food loved this recipe. This recipe has really worked well for us! (This Post is also part of WFMW)

You can definitely play around with what type of juice you want to use. Obviously, since juice plays the main role, you want to pick one that is very flavorful. Growing up, we used apricot nectar. Although I don’t like apricot fruit that well, I love the juice. However, you do have to find a juice that isn’t full of sugar. I have found some very nice apricot nectar juices that were sweetened with other added juices, such as white grape, instead of sugar.

This time I decided to try a new flavor and used a papaya juice (which was also a cane sugar free juice mix) and I LOVED it. While I am sure there would be some juices that would taste bland made into a gelatin, there is plenty of room to experiment. We like to put berries in as well. Some little kids might not like that part as well, so consider the age factor for those you are making it for. But for us adults, it’s a wonderful addition.

Fruit Juice Gelatin


Using one tablespoon of gelatin gives a softer set, using two gives a firm set (more like jello). I choose to use one tablespoon for the softer set.

4 cups of juice (my choices- apricot nectar, or a papaya juice mix)
6 tablespoons water
1-2 tablespoon gelatin (see note above)
1/4 cup of honey
2 cups of berries, fresh or frozen (I used raspberries and blackberries)

1-Put the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Leave for 5 minutes to soften.
2-Meanwhile, heat about two cups of the juice and the honey on the stove and bring to a boil.
3-Place the gelatin/water mixture in a medium size bowl and add the hot water, stirring for one minute and the gelatin is thoroughly dissolved. Then, add the rest of the juice.
4-In 8 ramekins or a small casserole dish, place your berries and pour over the gelatin juice mixture. Place in the fridge overnight,or for at least 3 hours to set. When cool, you can cover with plastic wrap.





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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Alison @ Pennythoughts August 26, 2008 at 12:06 pm

Kimi, what a cool idea! I am *definitely* keeping this recipe on hand for my future as a mother. This will be such a tasty, wholesome treat for little ones. I’m going to pass this on to some moms I know.

I keep forgetting about the food carnival! And I didn’t realize it was tomorrow. For some reason, I kept thinking it’s on Friday. I’d better get my thinking cap on in a hurry. I look forward to hearing your ideas.

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Kimi Harris August 26, 2008 at 6:03 pm

Alison,

Joel enjoyed his fruit gelatin immensely today in his lunch. :-) It was definitely a hit over here.

Thanks for being part of the carnival! Looking forward to it!

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Sarah August 27, 2008 at 6:49 am

I’m definitely keeping this one bookmarked to make for my son! It’d be a great sweet treat! I am also thinking of augmenting a family recipe (cranberry salad) for Thanksgiving this year by using gelatin and fruit juice rather than the boxed Jello (yuck!). Wish me luck!

Best,
Sarah

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Wani August 27, 2008 at 9:07 am

Great idea – sounds yummy!

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Sherry August 27, 2008 at 9:12 am

Great idea! I’m going to try this hopefully next week. :D

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Jeni August 27, 2008 at 10:18 am

I absolutely love this idea!! Thank you for sharing and I can’t wait to try it out for my colleagues at work on one of our food days.

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sarena September 24, 2008 at 3:31 pm

I have always made my own gel desserts with agar agar. And the Ceres line of juices are really good!

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annie January 19, 2009 at 2:59 pm

I definitely want to try this…..thank you for sharing the link and the recipe! Where do you get the gelatin? Is it just the box of stuff in the grocery store in the baking aisle (where ours is…..knox is the brand, i think……unless i’m mixing it up with something else)? Thank you!

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nancy March 3, 2009 at 9:41 am

This is a great recipe!! But you also can pour the gelatin into wide mouth glass jelly jars and put on the plastic lids for easy transportation!!

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Helen May 12, 2009 at 5:39 pm

I have lost count of how many times I have made this for my family now :-) My 2 boys are always trying to think of new juice and fruit combinations and we even made it in silicon ice cube molds so they were like bite size little candies…very cute.

Thanks for posting!

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Adream May 18, 2009 at 5:58 pm

I made this Fruit Juice Gelatin for my husband and I twice now. We really enjoyed it. Made it with lots of different fruits and juices and with one tablespoon of gelatin it comes out tasting great every time. This is a keeper.

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Sarah October 8, 2009 at 10:32 am

I think there is a typo in step 3 dealing with pour the hot water into the gelatin/water mixture. I assume you mean the hot juice and honey mixture? It looks like a great recipe though and I am excited to try in out on my trip with my husband to Madison, Wisconsin. :)

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Liz T. January 16, 2010 at 9:55 am

This recipe is amazing! I’ve been avoiding Jell-O for quite some time due to the sugar, and now that I’ve found this recipe, I don’t think I’ll ever go back! I made mine with grapefruit juice and nectarines… can’t wait to try more combinations! Thanks for another great recipe!

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