Ooooh, look what I made!
Guys, I know I sound like a five year old here, but I haven’t been this excited about making something in a LONG time!
See, every time I go to buy vitamins for the kids, we have an ingredient-reading fest. And I’m never happy with the ingredients.
Why does sugar, or worse, high-fructose corn syrup have to be so near the top.
It’s either that or artificial sweetener.
Yuck.
So then I came across this recipe on Pinterest for making your own vitamin C gummies. THAT caught my eye!
She used orange juice, which makes sense since it already contains quite a bit of vitamin C, but I never have orange juice around. Plus she added honey, which I didn’t want to do, but since orange juice is a bit tart even without adding vitamin C powder, I didn’t know if I could get away with not adding any.
Look, these aren’t candy, and they’re not super sweet. I figure this will help keep my kids from climbing the refrigerator shelves to get to them. Didn’t work. Apparently just the fact that they’re gummies makes them desirable.
So yeah, no added sugar = still sweet enough to be tasty. Suite me. More than suites me actually.
By my calculations, if you cut these into 60 pieces, each gummie should contain 336 grams of vitamin C NOT including what’s already in the juice you use. Bit of an odd number, but hey, this ain’t no vitamin lab.
You can use whatever juice you want to – I used grape because it seemed like the best combination of sweetness and flavor to mask the tartness of the Vitamin C. Apple would work really well too I think.
If you do want to use orange juice, add some honey or maple syrup to the mixture, or click through to the afore linked recipe.
Also, don’t worry about not having cute little silicon molds. If you chill the gelatin in a loaf pan, pulling it out, and cutting your gummies into squares with a pair of kitchen scissors is easy-peasy!
Homemade Vitamin C Gummies
Homemade Vitamin C Gummies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups grape juice
- 6 Tablespoons plain gelatin (I use beef gelatin, but Knox gelatin from your grocery store works too.)
- 5 teaspoons vitamin C powder (where to buy)
Instructions
- Heat one cup of grape juice until nearly boiling.
- Add gelatin and stir to dissolve.Add remaining grape juice and give it a stir.
- Stir in vitamin C powder.
- Pour into silicon molds, or a single loaf pan.Refrigerate until firm.Remove from molds.
- To remove from a glass or metal pan, simply slide a butter knife or spoon along the edge to loosen until you can pick it up with your fingers and pull it out.
- Use Scissors to cut into squares.Store in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy! (One at a time 😉 )
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Betsy Havard says
So boiling the grape juice doesn’t hurt the Vit C in the grape juice? Or hurt the Vit C powder?
Wendy schraml says
Vitamin C denatures at 158 degrees Fahrenheit or 70 degrees celcius
Jessica says
Have any idea if you could just empty the contents of a few vit c capsules? I was trying to not have to buy anything else for my bulging supplement cabinet.
Elise says
Yes, you could certainly do that. Be sure to look at the ingredients to see if there is anything other than vitamin C in the capsule (although I doubt there would be) which could affect the amount you’ll need. 🙂
Deborah cobern says
How can you give an accurate amount of Vit. C per gummy since they may be of all different sizes?
Elise says
Obviously, it won’t be 100% accurate, unless you’re able to but them perfectly, and with scissors, you should be able to cut them uniformly enough to get a relatively accurate count.
Since you can’t overdose on Vitamin C, 100% accuracy isn’t terribly important.
Andrea says
A healthier and cheaper version of gummy snacks is nice since children find them so appealing. The calculations ARE off as 336 grams is about 3/4 of a pound. Could you redo those or have someone else check your calculations? The body’s need for Vit C is variable depending on whatever challenges it faces each day, but if you manage to exceed your need, from what I understand, you get diarrhea. My sodium ascorbate powder had about 1 gram of Vitamin C per teaspoon and if I used it in your recipe, with 5 grams divided into 60 portions, I would be totally fine giving a child a few in a day (83 mg per piece). I also think the loss of Vit C due to heat is minimized by the method described and is minimal.
sherry says
hi! so how much vit c will be in each gummy?
Alli says
How long do these stay good for? Do you have to refridagtate them?
Christy says
I want to say thanks Elise for continuing !!
With all the opposition & silly things people come up with to be difficult, I’m thankful you keep sharing & trying to be a blessing…
★★★★★
Maggie says
How much vit c in each gummie?
Gramma B says
Though I am not needing to make these I just wanted to comment that the choice of using Bulk Supplements is a good one. For those who may not have had the opportunity to order from them, they are a great company that I have purchased from quite a few times. Always great product and great delivery. I would suggest that you put the opened pouch into a second ziptop bag as the zipper on the manufacturer’s pouch often won’t close due to the powdery product getting into the zip.
Shauna Heeter says
Do you have any idea how long these will last in the refrigerator?
Elise says
I haven’t tested them for over a week.
C F Bear says
336 MG not Grams, We love your recipe, thanks!
Coleen Goree says
Boy it’s hard to comment here. Did you use ascorbic acid or citric acid for the vit c powder? Can i use camu camu, acerola powder, or amla powder so I get it from the sources?
★★★★
Joy McGaha says
Hi elise
Do they taste tart/sour because of ascorbic acid?
Carol says
Do these need to be refrigerated and how long do these remain good and not go bad?
Elise says
Yes, they definitely should be refrigerated!
Elisha says
Made these and they turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Desi says
Are these a jello consistency or like gummy bears? I used another recipe and they turned out more like harder jello, and its a weird texture
Leah says
Can I use ascorbic acid in powder form
Terri says
Heating the vitamin C powder kills the vitamin C. It’s heat sensitive…and light sensitive.
NVE says
this. is. correct.
Ashley says
That’s not entirely accurate. It depends on 1) how high the temperature is when the vitamin c is added and 2) how long the vitamin c is exposed to those temps. I made some and the vitamin c is definitely retained.
Mary Krigbaum says
I want to add another ingredient. How will I know how much to add? I want to add Rosehips.
Thanks,
Mary
Anon says
You really should remove this post as this recipe as written denatures the vitamin c. The end product will have no viable vitamin c.
Ashley says
That’s not entirely accurate. It depends on 1) how high the temperature is when the vitamin c is added and 2) how long the vitamin c is exposed to those temps. I made some and the vitamin c is definitely retained.