Elderberry Gummies Recipe | Homemade Immune Support
These homemade elderberry gummies make taking elderberry a whole lot easier, especially for kids! Learn how to turn elderberry tea into fun, homemade gummy bears with gelatin, honey, sugar, and citric acid. This simple elderberry gummies recipe is a practical addition to your family's herbal medicine cabinet and can be made ahead for cold and flu season.
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Cost: Varies
Equipment
- Silicone Gummy Bear Molds You can find silicone molds here.
- Candy Thermometer
- Cooking Spray I use homemade non-stick cooking spray.
Ingredients
For the Elderberry Tea Concentrate
- 1 cup elderberries (fresh) Or ½ cup dried elderberries.I use Farmhouse Tea's Elderberry Syrup Mix because I like the benefits of the added herbal ingredients such as rose hips, astragalus, echinacea, orange peel, cinnamon, ginger, and clove.
- 1 cup water
For the Elderberry Gummies
- 6 teaspoons gelatin We buy our gelatin in bulk from Azure Standard.
- ¾ cup honey
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 teaspoons citric acid We like to buy our citric acid from Azure Standard because theirs is non-GMO.
- ½ cup elderberry tea
- 1 Tablespoon elderberry tea
To Coat the Elderberry Gummies
- 6 teaspoons granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon citric acid
Instructions
Make Your Elderberry Tea Concentrate
- Add water and fresh or dried elderberries to a medium-sized pot. Turn the heat to medium and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Once the liquid comes to a simmer, turn the heat to low, cover with a lid and let simmer for ten minutes.
- After the ten minutes, turn the heat off and let the pot sit, with the lid on, for twenty minutes.
- Strain the liquid into a Mason jar and place it in the refrigerator overnight or until it’s cold.
Prepare Your Molds
- Spray the silicone molds with cooking spray, then turn them upside down to let any excess cooking spray drain out. Just before filling, tap the molds on the towel-lined surface once more to remove any remaining oil.
Make Elderberry Gummies
- Add honey, sugar and 1 Tablespoon of elderberry tea into a pot. Stir to combine.
- Turn the heat to medium-high. While stirring constantly, cook the mixture until it reaches 260°F. Homesteading Hack: As the temperature of the gummy mixture rises, it may boil over, so be ready to turn the heat down to avoid a mess!
- Once the mixture reaches 260°F (or the “soft-ball” stage of candy making), turn the heat off and let the mixture cool to 190°F.
- While the mixture is cooling, mix the gelatin into the ½ cup of chilled elderberry tea. Stir to combine and allow the gelatin to bloom for 5-10 minutes.
- Once the mixture has cooled and the gelatin/elderberry tea mixture has thickened, stir in the citric acid and the gelatinous elderberry tea into the pot. Homesteading Hack: Stir well to remove any lumps.
- Place gummy molds on a cookie sheet so they can be easily transferred to the refrigerator once they’re filled.
- Using a dropper, fill each gummy bear mold to the top. Try to avoid air bubbles because they will remain in the gummy bear. Keep a toothpick on hand to pop any bubbles. Homesteading Hack: This part takes a while, so having a kitchen buddy is very helpful to speed up this step.
- Transfer the gummies to the refrigerator and let them set up for 8 to 12 hours or overnight.
Coat the Elderberry Gummies
- Once the gummies have set up, you can prolong their shelf-life by coating them in a mixture of granulated sugar and citric acid.
- Mix together six parts of granulated sugar and one part of citric acid (for example, six teaspoons of sugar with one teaspoon of citric acid).
- Dip each gummy bear into the sugar mixture and set it back on the cookie sheet.
- Allow the sugar coated gummies to sit in the refrigerator for up to three weeks to continue to dry out. The gummies can be eaten now, but they’ll be more shelf-stable if they dry out further.
Notes
Recipe Variations:
One of the things I love about a basic herbal gummy recipe is that you aren't limited to elderberry.
Once you understand the process, you can make other herbal gummies by replacing the elderberry tea concentrate with another properly prepared herbal tea concentrate.
- Herbal Sleep Gummies - Make a lemon balm tea concentrate and use ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon of lemon balm tea in place of the elderberry tea concentrate for delicious lemony sleep gummies.
- Indigestion Gummies - Make a fennel tea concentrate and use ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon of the fennel tea concentrate in place of the elderberry tea concentrate for naturally soothing indigestion.
- Anti-Viral Gummies - Fight off a virus by taking these anti-viral gummies at the onset of an illness. Make a pine needle tea concentrate and use ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon of the pine needle tea concentrate in place of the elderberry tea concentrate.
- Throat-Soothing Gummies - Soothe a sore throat with these lemon-eucalyptus gummies. Make a lemon eucalyptus tea concentrate and use ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon of the lemon eucalyptus tea concentrate in place of the elderberry tea concentrate.
- Use a Candy Thermometer - The temperature matters here. Getting the gummy mixture to 260°F helps you reach the proper stage for the finished gummies. This isn't a recipe where I recommend guessing based on how the mixture looks. If you don't have a candy thermometer, this is one of those little kitchen tools that's worth having.
- Watch for Boil-Overs - As the sugar mixture heats, it can suddenly foam up. Keep stirring and watch the pot closely. If it starts climbing toward the top of the pan, lower the heat. This is one of those small details that can save you from a very sticky cleanup job.
- Don't Skip Blooming the Gelatin - Give the gelatin those 5 to 10 minutes to bloom in the chilled elderberry tea. It helps the gelatin hydrate before you add it to the warm mixture.
- Let the Cooked Mixture Cool Before Adding the Gelatin - The recipe calls for cooling the cooked gummy mixture to approximately 190°F before adding the bloomed gelatin. Follow that temperature rather than adding the gelatin immediately after removing the pot from the stove.
- Remove Air Bubbles - Air bubbles won't disappear once the gummies have set. Keep a toothpick nearby as you're filling the molds. A quick little poke is all it takes to release most bubbles.
- Don't Get Discouraged by the Tiny Molds - This is probably the most tedious part of the whole process.If you're sitting there thinking, "This is taking forever," you're not doing anything wrong. It's just a lot of tiny gummy bears. Have somebody help you. Put on some music. Make it a kitchen project. Good enough is perfect.
- What If My Gummies Are Too Soft? I wouldn't recommend changing ingredient amounts by guesswork. First, make sure the gelatin was properly bloomed, the candy mixture reached 260°F, and the gummies had the full 8 to 12 hours to set. If you're still having trouble, check your measurements and thermometer before changing the recipe.
- Preventative: We like to take two elderberry gummies once or twice daily during the cold and flu season (or whenever the seasons change). This helps give our immune systems a good boost and helps keep our body’s ability to fight off viruses and bacteria strong.
- When Sick: If someone does start to feel sick, or we have illness running through the household, we’ll increase the dose to two gummies a few three times per day for those who aren’t sick and two gummies every two to three hours for those fighting illness.
Tried this recipe?We want to see! Tag @homesteadingfamily on Instagram.