Kombucha Gummies

Ingredients

2 cups room temp water - always use filtered water see below for recommendation
3 TBS gelatin - I only recommend this certified organic gelatin
1 cup cold water
1 TBS honey OR 10 drops liquid Stevia
500mL kombucha
frozen blueberries

Procedure

In a saucepan Slowly sprinkle gelatin to 2 cups room temp water allow to bloom (takes less than 5 minutes)
Once bloomed turn heat on and stir until just prior to a boil (important to not let it reach boiling point)
Once gelatin has mixed through and dissolved add cold water and stir through (this will cool the mix so that any beneficial live microbes are not killed)
Add honey or stevia and mix through
Add Kombucha
Pour mixture into a pyrex glass dish lined with the frozen blueberries and put in the fridge to allow to set and cut into desired shapes
- Alternatively you can pour into silicone mold such as these (kids love these)

Notes:Water recommendation - no point adding chlorinated anti-microbial water to fermented recipes as you'll potentially kill of any of the good live organisms. In fact one simple tweak we can make to optimising our health is using only top quality water, the Zazen Water Filters are my pick of the bunch out there - for 10% off online use discount code "HLCONNECT"

For a collagen supplement I recommend this one here. Keep in mind you can't use collagen for Gummies as the amino acid profile is slightly different and thus Collagen dissolves in water/liquids without setting making it idea for smoothies etc. Gelatin 'gels' thus making in ideal for gummies & stocks. Here is a recipe for a gut loving collagen smoothie

What’s All the Hype about Collagen and Gelatin?

You may have noticed that gelatin which is essentially the cooked form of collagen has made somewhat of a resurgence among the paleo and primal health movements. Collagen itself is a protein and makes up around 30-50% of the total protein of an animal (depending on the source you read) and is the framework for skin, hair, nails, bones, tendons, ligaments – basically all the structures that bind the body together like glue (which is where the name gelatin is derived from) and gives structural toughness and integrity to the body. Muscle on the other hand only has very small quantities of collagen. So when you consider the modern diet primarily being focused on lean cuts of steak or in the case of vegetarianism no meat at all our diets are somewhat lacking in gelatin and therefore we are missing out on some of the key amino acids (amino acids are what make protein, they are linked together by bonds and depending on the specific amino acids that are linked together determines the type of protein) and nutrients that are responsible for the healthy production of our skin, hair, nail, tendons, ligaments and bones. Think of gelatin as providing the nutrients for a strong, bulletproof robust framework. As we start to get older our bodies naturally start to decrease their own production of collagen, with that we see wrinkles start to form due to the decreased elasticity, ligaments and tendons begin to lose strength and bones become more brittle. So theoretically increasing gelatin into the diet through bone broths and supplementation should promote healthy glowing skin hair and nails and delay the aging process, as well as support the joints and ligaments making them more resilient.To put it into perspective a 20g serving of Gelatin contains the following amounts of amino acids: around 3.7g of glycine, 2g of proline and 2 g of hydroxyproline whereas an 85g serving of ground/mince beef contains 1.5g glycine, 1.2g proline and only 0.28g of hydroxyproline. So we can clearly see how gelatin outweighs meat significantly with the amino acids that are responsible for providing the infrastructure for healthy elastic skin, strong ligaments and tendons and healthy blood vessels. On top of this gelatin contains none of the amino acid tryptophan and is very low in methionine both of which can be inflammatory.Now consider that our ancestors in years gone by practiced nose-to-tail, whole animal eating philosophy, in which case they ate as nature intended which in turn creates a balance and harmony within the body. Our ancestors were robust, strong people with perfect dental structure as Weston A. Price showed in his observational studies of untouched tribes. If one just chooses to eat the muscle component and ignores the other components such as the organs, bones (in the form of broth) then key amino acids and nutrients are missing creating an imbalance in the body and potentially setting up an environment for ‘dis-ease’. Mother Nature is clever she packages everything together nicely, a vegetable contains the right ratio of vitamins, minerals and nutrients, and animals are no different they contain ALL the constituents to support and nourish us. We don’t isolate some components of a vegetable and disregard the rest, so why do we do it for animal consumption, isolating the flesh and throwing away the offal and bones. If we choose to sacrifice animals we should also at least pay respect to them and use every component, this is far more sustainable and respectful. Consider sardines, 1Kg of sardines equates to close to 1Kg of sardines for the most part as we eat the whole thing (aside for the head for most people), in modern times we cannot say the same for beef, lamb etc as we eat the meat and throw away the rest which not only dishonours the animal but creating tremendous waste.