Want to strengthen your bones, eat some anti-aging food AND have lollies at the same time?
Well, that can be done, nicely – here is some jelly hearts for healthy skin and bones. The health benefits from blueberries, lemon and gelatine are amazing, the fact that these jelly hearts are sugar free makes them more a supplement than a sweet.
Sugar free jelly lollies
1 cup frozen blueberries
2/3 Cup of Juice from 2 – 4 lemons
10-15 drops Stevia Berry
½ tea spoon Vanilla extract
4 tbs gelatine
You can get gelatine from here at iherb or in the local health food store. Iherb is definitely the cheapest place – and if you use my Coupon Code; BOQ838 first time you order, you’ll get a discount as well. You will also find Stevia drops on iherb. You might choose a vegan type of gelatine like agar, but I have not tried that yet.
- Squeeze the juice of 2-4 lemons- depending on the size of them. Use a strainer or a sieve to make sure no pulp or pips follow into the juice. Pour the juice into a pan.
- Add the frozen blueberries and heat up till it gets hot. Take pan off the hot plate. Do not boil – it should just be warm enough to melt the gelatine.
- Use a stick mixer to make a smooth blueberry texture of it all.
- Add 4 tablespoons of gelatine.
- Add Stevia drops. You can use other sweeteners if you prefer that: One or two table spoon of Honey and ½ tea spoon Yacon syrup e.g. add some vanilla extract to taste.
- Mix everything well together. Remember it will taste less sweet when it cools down.
- I like to use little sweet silicon moulds but you might also use a square baking pan and glad wrap or similar. Make sure the liquid has cooled down a little bit before pouring it in the mould or the pan. Cool them all down in the fridge. They will last there for a week, but I can assure you they will disappear before that!
You can buy your silicone moulds here.
The levels of nutrition in these lollies are so high– you can consider them a supplement!
- Proteins from the gelatine
- Antioxidants from the blueberries and the lemons
- Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K and Folate are all in these lovely berries as well as fibers
Blueberries health benefits
The health benefits of blueberries are mainly attributed to a pigment in the berry that gives them the lovely blue color and is called anthocyanidins. Yes, Anthocyanidins – they increase the benefits of vitamin C in the body and it helps to stabilise collagen, which is a building block of all body tissues.
Blueberries contains a considerable amount of antioxidants. Studies have shown that they are really good for better memory, and can help with dementia, Alzheimer, Parkinson, cancer and diabetes.
Eat them as they are, put them in your yoghurt or on cereal or make a healthy jam or jelly lollies. These berries can help relieve both diarrhoea and constipation.
We call Blueberries the vision fruit because they help your eyesight.
They contain – like most berries – tannins as well as pectin. Tannins are good for your intestines, they reduces inflammation and kills unfortunate bacteria. Pectin is a strong anticancer agent.
Gelatine for healthy skin and bones
Gelatine is a tissue builder and strengthens the collagen in your body. Skin, connective tissue and tendons are some of the tissue in your body that benefits from this nutrient. For some people it might be hard to just stir out the gelatine in water and drink it, but with this un-sweet little hearts, it is ever so easy.
If you are excited about the jelly recipe and/or the evidence-based facts about blueberry nutrition, please tell your friends that could benefit from this by sharing this post.
References:
Joseph J.A et al (2010) (online). Blueberry supplementation improves memory in older adults. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20047325 Pubmed.
Wolfe K. et al (2008) (online). Cellular antioxidant activity of common fruits http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf801381y. Journal of Agricultural and food chemistry.
