Healthy Homemade Fruit Juice Jello

I love the fancy jello desserts of the 1950’s. The tiered layers in brilliant and bright colours, and the promise of fruity flavours. Making pretty desserts with fruit juice jello is an easy and healthy alternative.

In fact, fruit juice jello is every bit as easy to make as those “instant jello” boxes. The result is a healthy, naturally sugar-free dessert that is wiggly and fun!

Fun with flavour

The best part about making jello from scratch is that you get to CHOOSE exactly what goes into your jello!

In the recipe below, I don’t dictate whether you should use pectin or gelatin. I’ve used both organic gelatin powder and Pomona’s pectin and the jello has come out perfectly. Just follow the jelling instructions on the package for 4 cups of liquid.

The recipe below has three layers: a juice jello layer, a fruit layer and a layer of flavoured cream. Exactly which flavours you use is entirely up to you.

Here are some fun suggestions:

• Berry Bash: Use grape, apple or a mixed berry juice for the jello, then add blueberries, raspberries or sliced strawberries. (This is what I made in the photos for this blog.)
• Raspberry Tea: Use 1 cup of strong brewed black tea instead of cream and mix it with 3 cups of grape juice. Add in 1 cup of raspberries.
• Coconut Cream: This is a vegan version of creamy jello. Make the jello with berry juice and add in 1 cup of raspberries. Then use coconut cream instead of the whipping cream.
• Apple Ginger: Mix homemade ginger ale with apple juice. For a probiotic boost follow the instructions below for making probiotic jello. Add in thinly sliced apples sprinkled with 1 tsp of cinnamon. Feel free to mix with whipping cream or just use 4 cups of juice and ginger ale.
• Orange Julius: Use orange juice mixed with 1 1/2 tsp of orange zest and Add in 1 cup of chopped banana. I recommend making the whipping cream layer.

Probiotic Jello

Adding a bit of cultured liquid into your jello is a fun way to get your daily dose of probiotics. Since both gelatin and pectin need to be stirred into boiling hot liquid, a few extra steps are required to make probiotic jello.

1. Heat up 1 cup of juice to boiling.
2. Stir in enough pectin or gelatin to gel 2 cups of liquid.
3. Allow the concentrated jello to cool to just above room temperature. This can take between 30 to 90 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes so that the jello doesn’t harden on the outside of the dish while remaining soft in the middle of the dish.
4. Once the jello has cooled to around 40 C (104 F) stir in 1 cup of a cultured beverage. The exact temperature isn’t important. It should just feel slightly warm to the touch, but not hot.
5. Probiotic beverages can include water kefir, kombucha, ginger bug or cultured whipping cream. Use any flavour combination that you want, or try one of my suggestions above.

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