Ingredients
- 3 cups cherry, purple grape, or pomegranate juice
- 1/2 cup dried elderberries
- 1/4 cup cut and sifted astragalus root
- 2 tablespoons amla berries
- 2 tablespoons goji berries
- 1/2 cup plain, unflavored gelatin powder
Directions
- Simmer the juice, elderberries, astragalus root, amla berries, and goji berries in a medium saucepan over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it into a heat-safe measuring cup.
- Measure out 2 separate cups of the liquid. One cup should go into a heat-safe bowl and sit in the refrigerator until cold. The other cup of liquid can go back into the saucepan.
- Once the juice in the refrigerator is cold, sprinkle the gelatin on top and let it rest for a few minutes. This allows the gelatin to “bloom,” or reconstitute, before the next step.
- Bring the cup of juice in the saucepan to a simmer, and then pour it over the cold juice and gelatin mixture.
- Stir the gelatin and juice together briskly with a whisk until the gelatin is completely dissolved. From there, use a dropper to transfer the liquid from the saucepan into silicone candy molds. If you don’t have candy molds, you can pour the liquid into a glass baking pan.
- Stash the filled candy molds (or glass baking pan) in the refrigerator for 1–2 hours to cool and harden, then remove the gummies from the candy molds (if using the glass baking pan, cut the gelatin into "1–2" cubes) and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
More from The Complete Guide to Adaptogens:
Excerpted from The Complete Guide to Adaptogens From Ashwaganda to Rhodiola, Medicinal Herbs That Transform and Heal by Agatha Noveille Copyright © 2018 Adams Media, a division of Simon and Schuster, also available at Simon and Schuster. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Photographs by Harper Point Photography.
The Complete Guide to Adaptogens (Simon and Schuster, 2018) by Agatha Noveille is a guide to learning about the many different adaptogenic herbs that improve your body’s reaction to emotional and physical stress. Reader’s can gain access to safe, all-natural and long-term use recipes for improving sleep, mood, mental focus, general wellness and beauty.
Have you seen gummy vitamins on the shelf at your local health food store? Originally they were just for kids, but more and more companies are making them for the adult crowd too. These astragalus gummies are better tasting than any of the ones from the store, and contain fewer preservatives (that is, none). Here’s another plus: the only sweetness comes from the fruit itself!
You shouldn’t devour these at quite the same rate as your favorite gummy bear candies, but you can use 3-6 gummies per day. If you have any liquid left over, you can add an equal amount of honey to make a syrup and enjoy it a few teaspoons at a time.
