Herbal Gelatin – Immune Boosting Herbs in Finger Gelatin
Herbal gelatin is an easy way to get herbal medicine into those who might not take tea or tinctures. It combines anti-viral and antibacterial herbs with unflavored gelatin, juice, and honey for a throat soothing treat.
After I came up with this recipe, I discovered that James Green came up with a similar idea in The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook. Sandwiched between the suppositories and the syrups, he relates the serendipitous tale of how he discovered herbal jello.
He was aiming glycerin-gelatin suppositories, but ended up with soft set gelatin instead. With tasting, he discovered that a spoonful of jello helps the medicine go down, and continued to experiment.
My version uses herbal tea, his uses herbal tinctures. I start with a juice and plain gelatin base, he uses box jello. I'll share both recipes, and you can decide which herbal gelatin works best for you.
Always check for any drug interactions if you are on medication. Most common culinary herbs are pretty safe, but there are a lot of meds out there so it's best to double check with a health care professional.
Jump to:
Which Herbs Boost the Immune System?
Many herbs boost the immune system, but not all of them are “jello-friendly”. For instance, I know garlic jello is not going to fly.
You can check out “25 Immune Boosting Herbs and Spices” for ideas, or pick up a package of your favorite immune boosting herbal tea blend.
For ease of use, I grabbed some Ceylon cinnamon sticks and dried ginger root, some mint leaves and echinacea tea. I encourage you to experiment with different combinations.
The boys, not too surprisingly, liked the apple/cinnamon/ginger best, but I'll keep experimenting. I think this is a fun way to get more herbs into our diet.
You could also use immune boosting herbs in spiced elderberry wine for a grown up version. 😉
Herbal Gelatin made with Juice and Herbal Tea
This herbal gelatin combines anti-viral and antibacterial herbs with unflavored gelatin, fruit juice, and honey for a throat soothing treat.
Honey is good medicine, and a natural throat soother and cough remedy. If you want to preserve the enzymes in raw honey, make sure your gelatin blend isn't boiling when you mix the honey in.
Gelatin provides easy to digest protein when stomachs are unsettled, and plain gelatin is a low histamine food. Gelatin and collagen dietary supplements may promote a healthy gut, skin, joints, bones, hair, and nails.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons plus one teaspoon of unflavored gelatin – Vital Proteins Gelatin is Pasture Raised and Grass Fed. You could also substitute agar agar as a vegetarian alternative.
- 1 cup cold fruit juice
- 3 cups fruit juice, heated with herbs or 2 cups hot fruit juice plus one cup tea
- 2 tablespoons honey, optional
*Possible fruit/herb combinations include:
Apple/Cinnamon/Ginger – 1 cup cold apple cider, 3 cups hot apple cider simmered with 2 cinnamon sticks and 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger root or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
Apple-Carrot/Echinacea – 1 cup cold apple cider, 2 cups carrot juice, 1 cup echinacea tea
Apple-Carrot/Ginger – 1 cup cold apple cider, 2 cups carrot juice plus 1 cup apple cider, simmered with 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger root or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
Apple/Mint – 1 cup cold apple cider, 2 cups hot apple cider, 1 cup peppermint tea
Pomegranate/Lemon Balm – 1 cup cold pomegranate juice, 2 cups hot pomegranate juice, 1 cup lemon balm tea
Orange/Ginger – 1 cup cold orange (or carrot) juice, 3 cups hot orange juice simmered with 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger root or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
Directions
Prepare hot ingredients – If using juice with herbs, place juice and herbs in medium sauce pot and simmer for 10 minutes. If using tea, brew tea and let steep for 10 minutes, covered, then mix with juice in sauce pot and heat to boiling.
Sprinkle gelatin over cold juice in large bowl; let stand 1 minute. Add hot juice and stir until gelatin dissolves completely, about 5 minutes. Stir in honey if desired.
Pour into 13x9x2 inch pan. (Half batches can be molded in a bread pan or 9×9 pan.)
Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. To serve, cut into 1 inch cubes. Makes about 9 dozen pieces.
Herbal Jello made with Box Gelatin and Tincture
This recipe is adapted from The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook. Simple Mixes offers fruit flavored gelatin without artificial colors or flavors, or you can use your box jello of choice.
Ingredients
- 1 3-ounce box fruit flavored jello
- 1 cup boiling water
- 4 ounces of herbal tincture
- 4 ounces cold water
Directions
- In a medium bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over the gelatin powder. Stir until powder is completely dissolved.
- Add the tincture and stir well, then add the cold water and stir well.
- Pour the gelatin mixture into a 9×9 pan or your molds of choice. Allow to set in the refrigerator for 4 hours, or overnight.
- Cut into 24 equal pieces to deliver a 5 ml dose of tincture per serving.
Storage and Use of Herbal Gelatin
For best quality, store in the refrigerator and use within a week. Like any gelatin made with natural juice, the natural fruit sugar and acidity offers some preservation properties, but the flavor is best when it's fresh.
As for dosage, all the herbs used are those that are generally recognized as safe when consumed at food level dosages, so think about how much fruit juice or tea is appropriate for your child's age/size. Fruit juice still has a fair amount of sugar, so you don't want them to eat a whole pan of gelatin in one sitting.
Herb potency varies, as does the amount of compounds infused, so there's no practical way to dose as specific amounts. It's in the “soothing supplement” category rather than “heavy duty meds” category.
Print Friendly Recipes
PrintHerbal Gelatin Made with Juice & Herbal tea
A kid-friendly way to get the power of immune boosting herbs in your diet.
- Yield: 9 dozen 1x
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons plus one teaspoon of unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup cold fruit juice*
- 3 cups fruit juice, heated with herbs or 2 cups hot fruit juice plus one cup tea*
- 2 tablespoons honey, optional
Instructions
- Prepare hot ingredients – If using juice with herbs, place juice and herbs in medium saucepot and simmer for 10 minutes. If using tea, brew tea and let steep for 10 minutes, covered, then mix with juice in sauce pot and heat to boiling.
- Sprinkle gelatin over cold juice in large bowl; let stand 1 minute. Add hot juice and stir until gelatin dissolves completely, about 5 minutes. Stir in honey if desired. Pour into 13x9x2 inch pan. (Half batches can be molded in a bread pan or 9×9 pan.)
- Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. To serve, cut into 1 inch cubes. Makes about 9 dozen.
Notes
Possible fruit/herb combinations include
- Apple/Cinnamon/Ginger – 1 cup cold apple cider, 3 cups hot apple cider simmered with 2 cinnamon sticks and 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger root or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
- Apple-Carrot/Echinacea – 1 cup cold apple cider, 2 cups carrot juice, 1 cup echinacea tea
- Apple-Carrot/Ginger – 1 cup cold apple cider, 2 cups carrot juice plus 1 cup apple cider, simmered with 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger root or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
- Apple/Mint – 1 cup cold apple cider, 2 cups hot apple cider, 1 cup peppermint tea
- Pomegranate/Lemon Balm – 1 cup cold pomegranate juice, 2 cups hot pomegranate juice, 1 cup lemon balm tea
- Orange/Ginger – 1 cup cold orange (or carrot) juice, 3 cups hot orange juice simmered with 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger root or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
Herbal Jello made with Box Gelatin & Tincture
Pair your favorite jello flavor with immune boosting herbs.
Ingredients
- 1 3–ounce box fruit flavored jello
- 1 cup boiling water
- 4 ounces of herbal tincture
- 4 ounces cold water
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over the gelatin powder. Stir until powder is completely dissolved.
- Add the tincture and stir well, then add the cold water and stir well.
- Pour the gelatin mixture into a 9×9 pan or your molds of choice. Allow to set in the refrigerator for 4 hours, or overnight.
- Cut into 24 equal pieces to deliver a 5 ml dose of tincture per serving.
More Home Remedies
for Cold and Flu Season
Treat and prevent cold & flu naturally.
Let me know if you try these recipes and which herb combinations you use.
You may also enjoy “11 Best Medicinal Herbs to Grow (Herb Garden & Wildcrafted)“.
Originally posted in 2012, last updated in 2022.
Great post. Do you have a book or anything published with these “tips” and other suggestions? Or, maybe a Print Friendly way to capture these without having to print an entire web post? I really want to keep some of the articles you have posted, they are wonderful.
Given that most of my posts are things I’m experimenting with and sharing as I go, I don’t have everything in a printer friendly format anywhere. However – I do have a cool site that another reader recommended that will make the pages easier to print – http://www.printfriendly.com/
I just tried it out and it works pretty well. You can easily edit out extra images, too.
One day when I’m “famous” ;-), I’d like to be able to hire somebody to make everything look prettier, but hopefully that will help for now.
You can also paste into any word processing program and delete what you don’t want. That’s what I do.
Imagine that, I run into one of my highschool friends on pintrest… I Love this recipe!
🙂
Jen
You missed this on facebook? I guess I need to go back to posting stuff on my personal timeline, too. Nice to see you stopping by. 🙂
I can’t wait to try this! I love gummies.
I have jars of unflavored Great Lakes Gelatin. Since it’s not in a packet, I was wondering if you could tell me how many ounces are in your packets!
Thanks,
Sarah
Let’s see – 32 envelopes, 8 ounces total = 0.25 ounce per envelope.
My 9yr old grandson and I will make these tomorrow after school…He’ll be impressed since he was curious about my concentrated bone boullion squares a couple of days ago
Elene – that’s great! Get them started young.
Wow!
Fantastic recipe.
I too have been reading about antibacterial herbs, and now after reading this, I will make my own variation for my boy with the special combination of fruit juices that he likes.
Thanks for sharing the wealth!
All the best,
C
What a clever idea! Must find some way to sneak some garlic in there. 😉
I’ve found the easiest way to get the garlic in the wee ones, is to crush up a few cloves and add it to a dish with raw honey, powdered ginger, powdered tumeric and cinnamon. A teaspoon full a couple of times a day. They always have some water near by to chase it down and have not complained yet!
That’s a lot of herbal goodness in one spoonful, but I don’t think I could get my guys to cooperate. They don’t like to take their cod liver oil unless it’s in capsules, either.
Very creative! Just be sure if you are using cinnamon regularly as a health supplement, you get the Ceylon variety that comes from Sri Lanka. Cassia cinnamon (the hard sticks and powder we are used in in the US) actually contains coumarin, which in high concentrations is bad for you. For regular cooking and baking it’s fine though 🙂 You can google it and see!
Thanks for pointing that out, Angela.
I’m looking for ways to increase bone broth consumption around here. Thinking about subbing some for part of the juice in these.. Thanks for this post!
doesn’t the gelatin, esp the natural , offer the same benefits as beef broth ??
Yes, good quality gelatin is a healing food in its own right.
I think it has to be “bone” broth to have the same healing qualities as gelatin and not to be confused with the commercial broth we find in most grocery stores.
Yes, the strange substance found in boxes and cans on grocery shelves that won’t gel when chilled doesn’t have the same mojo.
What about tomato juice with garlic….kind of tomato aspic/bloody mary kind of thing? I am looking forard to trying these myself and will also experiment with agar. I haven’t tried that in a while. Thank you for a fun post!
I don’t think my kids would go for it, but that would probably be a good one for adults. 🙂
Laurie, I love this. I’m sharing w/ my fans right now :).
Thanks, Adrienne!
Such a lovely post, simply awesome just love it. gonna share this with my friends and thanks for sharing.
Tomato soup with wild rice is an easy way to get get kids to eat garlic. We make ours by adding home canned crushed tomatoes to bone broth then purée. Throw into a pan with browned rice. Boil till soft then stir in roasted or raw garlic cloves just before serving. Kids don’t know it’s there. We also will mince mushrooms in this and they blend well with the rice. Turmeric and saffron also blend in unnoticed.
Sounds good.
What would be the best way to store These and how long do you think they would keep? Great idea by the way!
I keep them in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to a week, if they last that long.
I was going to ask how long they lasted and were they freezeble?? Just thinking to be prepared for the winter months.
Like regular gelatin snacks, they’ll last about a week in the fridge. They can be frozen and eaten as a frozen snack, like popsicles. They can’t be frozen and then thawed, because they’ll get runny.
Elderberry is also a great antiviral immune supporter. I think an Spiced Elderberry Honey variety would be interesting.
Yes, I think that would be great.
With the hello flu shots do you take them daily?
You can eat them daily as part of your regular diet along with other immune boosting foods. These will not provide complete immunity to illness (just like pharmaceutical shots). They are just a little something extra in a fun package to help support your body’s immune system. Always follow good hygiene practices with regular hand washing, stay hydrated, eat nutritious foods and get ample rest. See a trained healthcare provider if any condition is severe or persistent.
Where can I get elderberries all I can ever find is Elderberry Syrup, and it’s quite expensive, but i’ve heard it is so good for you and with this awful stuff going around that’s putting kids in the hospital, I’d like to get some of this into my grandchildren, especially the 2 with health issues.
Elderberries are not commonly cultivated in the U.S., so products can be hard to find and pricey. I’m lucky enough to be able to pick some locally, but I added some links to the bottom of the post for juice and juice concentrate. Plain elderberries are not very sweet, so it might be more pleasant tasting (and more cost effective) to combine the concentrate with some apple juice for palatability.
Here in New England elderberry grows wild all over the place. I pick in August and make jelly and/or freeze berries for use all year.
Lucky you! We have some around here, but none really close to where I live, so we planted some this year.
Mountain Rose Herbs sells elderberries. you can just do a search of elderberry syrup (Mountain Rose Herbs blog probably has one) and make your own. That is what I do. I’m thinking about using my homemade elderberry syrup and making them into jello shots.
Here is a pretty basic recipe. you can just do elderberries, if you don’t have or want all the other stuff in it. Just be sure to let everything cool before adding the honey or you will kill off all the beneficial enzymes in it.
• 1 cup dried elderberries
• 1 cup dried rosehips
• 4 cups water
• 3 T grated ginger root
• 2 teasp. cinnamon powder (Ceylon cinnamon)
• 8 whole cloves
•
• 2 cups raw honey
• 1 cup raw apple cider vinegar
Place all ingredients EXCEPT the honey and apple cider vinegar in a large saucepan. Turn heat on medium, bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer for at least 30 mins, maybe 45, or until about 1/2 the liquid has been reduced. DO NOT add the honey or vinegar as they are both raw and if you boil the honey & ACV, you’ll lose all the good enzymes.
Mash the berry mixture, strain through some cheesecloth.
After the mixture is no longer hot, but still warm, add the honey & ACV. You want it warm enough for the honey to melt but not to cook it. Stir until smooth.
Pour into a large quart jar – use a canning funnel. I also had about a pint extra, so the whole recipe makes about a quart and a half. From start to finish it takes about an hour and a half or less to make this.
I normally keep some elderberry syrup on hand for cold an flu season. We like it, too. I have a couple different recipes on the site – https://commonsensehome.com/elderberries-how-to-make-syrups-and-jellies/
how long can I save them
They should last about a week in the fridge. You could pour them into posicle molds and freeze them, but they’d need to be eaten frozen as they would get runny when thawed.
Hi Laurie, I wonder if you could contact me via email [email protected]? I’d love to talk to you about some ideas! – susan
I am in the UK and we have apple cider vinegar or apple cider the alcoholic drink. Is it one of these you refer to or something else? Thanks
That would be the something else. In our area of Wisconsin, apple cider refers to cold pressed apple juice that has not had the solids removed. It is refrigerated and consumed fresh before it ferments.
well my kids 6 and 8 year old wont eat it any ideas? how to give them gelatin
You could try making popsicles instead and make them a little sweeter by blending in some banana.
sounds good but they don’t eat all popsicles some ill try it with out the banana ans see if they eat thanks for the idea
Do they drink tea or juice? You could just give the herbal tea or infused juice.
The herbal medicine and the herbal stuffs are good, that is called unani medicine in my area. I take these natural herbs on regular basis.
Great article..
I just made orange juice cubes yesterday….. they are a big hit.. not super sweet.. I added a bit of sugar & honey.
I had read about the health benefits of gelatin…. & of course orange juice & honey.
so ………….. I made it & was very happy with the results..
thanks for posting.
lisa
Great to have something cool for sore throats, too, sometimes.
Laurie Hi , I am asking permission to use your jello Flu Shots photos for my recipes one line.
Thank you for asking, but no, you may not use my photos with your recipe.
re: Garlic jello…. savory jello is called aspic and can be really yummy ( just saying… 🙂
lol – whatever appeals to your palate. 🙂
Im so excited to try this for my family. Just starting out. What is the recommended dosage and how often? And how long do they keep in the refrigerator?
Thank you
They should easily keep for a week in the refrigerator. There is no recommended dosage, for a couple of reasons. A) Because you make it at home, there’s no way to tell exactly how much of an ingredient gets in the recipe. B) This is not a “medicine” per se, it’s just meant to be used as part of a healthy diet. Quality gelatin is an easily absorbed protein, and the herbs recommended have a long history of use for germ fighting.
On an average about how many should one person (an adult) eat each day? Thanks for the recipe!
There is no dosing information, because these are simply meant as a compliment to a healthy diet. Each person is different, every batch of gelatin will be different. Think of them as similar to herbal tea.
Thank you for the info! I’m definitely going to try this.
Do you have any real evidence these silly recipes actually do anything? Why not just get a flu shot? They are practically free and they work better than all these expensive and absurd ingredients!
Why not just get a flu shot? Maybe you missed the headlines like, “CDC Warning: Flu Viruses Mutate and Evade Current Vaccine“:
“Much of the influenza virus circulating in the United States has mutated and this year’s vaccine doesn’t provide good protection against it, federal health officials are warning.”
Or maybe you’re figuring you’ll just take some Tamiflu because your vaccine didn’t protect you – except a new study has shown that “Tamiflu Not as Effective as Thought“:
“After a four-year effort to obtain this data from both the manufacturers and the EMA, the authors report in the journal BMJ that those trials do not support claims that the drugs lower the risk of complications from flu, such as pneumonia, or that the benefits of the drugs outweigh their risks, which include nausea, vomiting, headaches and kidney disorders.”
It’s certainly your choice to select the flu shot and prescription antivirals, however you should be aware that herbs have a very long history of use an antibiotics and antivirals.
Many pharmaceutical antibiotics are isolated chemical constituents. They are one compound/one chemical – penicillin is penicillin, tetracycline is tetracycline and so on. This makes them easier for bacteria and viruses to adapt to and counteract. In contrast, herbs are much more complicated. Garlic has over 33 sulfur compounds, 17 amino acids and a dozen other compounds. Yarrow has over 120 identified compounds. (It makes me look at my herbs with a new appreciation.) In plants, the whole appears to be more than the sum of its parts.
Also: “Antiviral substances in plants of the mint family (labiatae). I. Tannin of Melissa officinalis.”
“Plants of the Mint Family Effective Against Viral Illness”
“Therapeutic Benefits of Ginger Noted for Thousands of Years”
“Cinnamon has antiviral activity against various influenza viruses. – GreenMedInfo“
I know I’m a little late to the party to be commenting on this, but I was just reading the comments and can’t help but laughing about the “silly recipes” comment! Especially because the ingredients are referred to as “absurd,” lol! It’s sad when carrot, ginger, apple, cinnamon, pomegranate, echinacea, mint, lemon balm, and gelatin are considered “absurd,” but people won’t think twice about injecting their bodies with the flu shot. I’m pretty sure the flu shot contains a lot more absurd ingredients than these herbs and real foods that people have been using for hundreds of years. Plus, you may be surprised to find out that flu shots might not “work better” like you claim. We do make gelatin similar to this recipe, but I’m excited to try some of the herb and juice/tea combinations mentioned here that will be new to my family.
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
Admittedly, these items may not be standard fare in many American households – but maybe they will end up in a few more households if this post gets around. 😉
WOW! ????
Thank you this it’s Awesome! I we share with my grandchildren..
I agree about the benefits of using real foods to boost the immune system! With this type of preparation I’d suggest reversing the ratio of hot/cold liquids as boiling the juice probably kills off a lot of the beneficial properties and the gelatin will dissolve just fine with less hot liquid. Also, I’ve read that eating too much (whatever that is) gelatin, since it is an incomplete protein (not having all essential amino acids) can be problematic for certain people with mental issues and should be used sparingly with children as their brains are developing rapidly.
This is the first time I’ve ever heard of the possibility of anyone overdosing on gelatin. On the contrary, most of what I’ve read indicates that gelatin is a very healing food. Any idea what amount would constitute “too much”
I’m trying to consume Apple Cider Vinegar daily, ideally 1T. before each meal. Can you help me figure out a way to make ACV gelatins and know how to regulate how much ACV I’m getting? Also, I hate the taste. Any way to mask it?
You might try half ACV, half juice, and cut the pieces so they are roughly 2 tablespoons per piece. A batch should easily keep in the fridge for a week.
What would be the best way to store these, and for how long do they keep? Thanks!
I store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator and use within a week.
Hello, I would love to make both the Kid friendly Gelatin and the Cough Drops, BTW thanks you for providing them, my sister are following the Keto program so low carbs. Do you have any suggestions or how much more gelatin should be used to thicken a liquid sweetner like from a powdered source like stevia. There are many others recommended in Keto diet references but stevia is more common. Thanks in advance!
If you plan to use fruit juice, I suspect that the fruit juice alone wouldn’t be keto friendly, even before any sweetener was added. If you want to use tea only, simply sweeten to taste before adding gelatin.
For the cough drops, the honey helps to soothe the throat, so I don’t recommend a substitution. If you must, I’d try a one for one swap of a sugar free syrup.