One of my favorite things about real, nutrient dense food is that I find myself eating amazingly delicious things that I previously deemed to be guilty pleasures – bacon, butter, cream, egg yolks, and other delectables are now my top health foods. I love it!
Recently I discovered that finger jello doesn't have to be a junk food; and I am just thrilled for a wiggly jiggly revival, especially when I can pass it off as part of my nutritious diet.
I remember J-E-L-L-O from my junk food days – from shapely molds with suspended fruit cocktail to a bowlful topped with Cool Whip. Sometimes we skipped the prep, and just dipped our stained red fingers in to the sugary powder – admittedly a bit disgusting – but all fun nonetheless. Who knew one of the most iconic American desserts could easily morph into a nutrient dense health food!
When it's from healthy, grass fed animals, gelatin is a wonderfully nutritious and versatile ingredient. Gelatin is made when the collagen from skin and bones of animals is melted down, making the proteins soluble in hot water.
The presence of gelatin is why a good bone broth or homemade soup will gel when chilled. According to the Weston Price Foundation, gelatin helps to strengthen cartilage, bones, teeth, and hair, and benefits the skin, digestive tract, immune system, heart and muscles. The digestive benefits almost justify jello being such a popular hospital food. Now if only we could get the medical cafeterias to make it from scratch with healthy ingredients!
Even Kraft Jell-O is a relatively simple food containing “Sugar, gelatin, adipic acid (for tartness), contains less than 2% of artificial flavor, disodium phosphate and sodium citrate (control acidity), fumaric acid (for tartness), red 40, blue 1.” I don't know about you, but I'm not really down with the the processed sugar and artificial stuff, and I don't personally trust that Kraft or Knox use anything but gelatin from factory raised animals full of stress hormones, antibiotics, and disease.
My version of jello is made with Great Lakes Gelatin from grass-fed cows and fresh juice or a sweetened tea like hibiscus. (I don't recommend using Knox or other main stream brands of gelatin.)
The WAP foundation suggests Bernard Jensen or Great Lakes which are both made from pasture-raised animals. With a one year old that insists on feeding herself, I opted for the hand-holdable version, finger jello. So super easy to make, this is sure to become one of our family's new favorites.
How to make nutrient-dense finger jello
To make jello of this consistency, the proportion is 1 cup liquid to 1 Tablespoon gelatin. If you prefer a more spoonable, jelly-like jello (especially good topped with raw whipped cream or creme fraiche), use less gelatin.
For the batch pictured here, I used 4 cups fresh pomegranate juice and 4 Tbsp. Great Lakes gelatin.
- Divide juice approximately in half.
- Add gelatin to cold juice and stir; set aside.
- Bring other half of juice to a boil, then add to the gelatin/juice mixture.
- Stir to dissolve the gelatin and pour into a shallow pan.
- Place in the fridge to cool. When completely gelled, cut in cubes (or use a fun shaped cookie cutter), and enjoy!
The jello will taste less sweet than your original juice, so if you prefer a sweeter jello, stir in a touch of raw honey before cooling to set.
Experiment with stirring in some fresh berries or a swirl of raw cream before chilling.
Super easy, fun, yummy, and good for you too!
I LOVE finger jello, but what's even more exciting is that this and other gelatin-rich foods can dramatically improve your health. Sylvie McCracken of Hollywood Homestead and her husband Eric both lost over 65 pounds and healed a myriad of health issues using gelatin and other real food solutions.
Here are just a few of the things that gelatin can help to resolve:
- Allergies & food sensitivities
- Joint and mobility pain
- Digestive problems
- Acne other skin conditions
- Dull and fragile hair, wrinkles, and even stretch
- Hormonal imbalances
- Tooth decay
- Weight issues
- Anxiety and fatigue
The Gelatin Secret is a beautiful, meticulously researched ebook, packed with everything you MUST know about gelatin and its powerful ability to transform your health and beauty —naturally. Plus you get all the recipes you could ever need to start consuming gelatin with ease.
Where can u get the gelatin from? Rainbow acres? Wholefoods?
Sounds great for my picky eater! Any other flavor suggestions that yr lil one liked?
Hi Chantal – I bought mine on Amazon. The options are limitless for flavors, but personally I like the ones that most mimic the red flavors of my youth like cherry made with pure cherry juice! Watermelon might be really good too. 🙂
Bernard’s is much cheaper do you find the texture or taste different?
Hi Nicole – I haven’t tried Bernard’s… If you do a taste test, let us know! 🙂
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back later tonight when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
I absolutely love this healthy jello recipe. Thank you!
Absolutely love this healthy jello recipe. Can’t wait to try it. Thank you!!
Anyone make their own gelatin?
I’m curious how you feel about the taste of the geletin. I looked up the brand you suggest and several people talked about how horrible it smells while being cooked and a weird taste (although none of them mentioned it being an issue in homemade jello, though no one even mentioned making homemade jello!) Does this smell go away afterwards or is it something you get use to? I would love to make this for my kids! I think they’d love it as long as it didn’t taste/smell like some reviewers said!
Hi Crystal – I had absolutely no problem with the smell. IMO it’s actually odorless, and the final product takes just like the store bought stuff – but better!
Mine didn’t have a smell or taste either.
Then dehydrate it! I was looking for a chewy fruit roll up with little success. One day I took my sheet of homemade Jello and cut it into strips and dehydrated them. Worked perfectly!
However, my Jello is made from fruit puree not juice!
You just inspired me…I think I am going to try making vanilla latte jello! Coffee, vanilla extract, stevia, and cream.
Making it with hibiscus tea right now, hope it sets before bed tonight
We love jello around here and make it with fresh fruit juice during the summer. These days we are doing Kombucha, water kefir, fermented lemonade jello….2cups liquid mixed with 5Tbsp gelatin mixed well and lightly heated added to 2 cups of same liquid. pour in pan and cool. YUM. and yes its still probiotic because the jar always has pressure when we open it.
Can this work if I only have an ipad right now and I can’t download anything onto my ipad? Can this go on kindle? I have no computer at this time. Thanks!
Hi Amanda – It will come as a pdf and will work on both devices. Hope that helps!
Thank you! Great news!
That gelatin is ridiculously expensive. Any other suggestions that are more cost effective for someone just trying it? I don’t want to commit $15 to one before I know my kids will eat it. Why don’t you recommend Knox? Is it lacking the nutritional value?
Hi Christy – Thanks for your comment. Knox will still work, but I would opt for the more nutrient dense version myself. 🙂
Love this article thanks! Would the recipe for the finger jello be the same regardless of the brand used? Not sure if I’ll get the Bernard Jensen or Great Lakes yet. Thanks!
Hi Kay – Thanks for your question. Another brand of gelatin will work, but I would rather use a more nutrient dense version myself. Hope that helps!
Thanks for sharing! I linked to this post in my Glow Party series.
I accidentally bought the hydrolysate instead of the beef gelatine in the link. I don’t really understand the difference between the two, does the great lakes hydrolysate still has the same health benefits?
My kids are so excited to finally be allowed to have Jelly, I can’t wait to make it with them!
Hi Carly – Thanks for your question. They both have the same great health benefits, but the hydrolysate won’t gel, therefore it won’t work well in a jello recipe. It does however work great in these popsicles. Hope that helps!
Thanks Emily, thats really helpful, and thank you for replying so quickly you saved my kids from the disappointment of soggy jelly, ha!
Hello Emily,
I really enjoy reading your blog and regularly use your recipes. However I have noticed recently that certain recipes are missing when I look for them. Am I doing something wrong or do you only put recipes up for a short while?
Thanks
Hannah
Hi Hannah – Thanks for letting me know. The issues should be resolved now, so let me know if the site is still giving you trouble. 🙂
I love how simple and flexible this recipe is. I was asked to bring a firm Jell-O dessert with fruit in it to an event, but wanted to find a real-food version. This is perfect. I’ll fold in some raspberries and call it done. How much liquid would you recommend for a 9×13 pan? Have you ever made that much?
Thanks!
Hi Amy – That sounds delicious. I would imagine you could double or even triple the recipe, depending on how thick you want the jello to be. Hope that helps!
I grow up with chicken broth my mom uses whole chicken with their feet and makes really really good soups. I grow up in ukraine and we used to eat salty jellatin with chicken meat in it is super tasty,it a very traditional food in Russia it’s an anusual food for people that never eat before
I’m confused about your recipe. It states to divide the juice evenly and then add the gelatin powder to the cold juice and then set aside. Then it says to bring the other half of the juice to a boil, add the gelatin, and then pour into a 13×9 pan. The recipe never mentions what we’re supposed to do with the first half of the cold juice/gelatin mixture that we were told to set aside. Could you please clarify? Are we dumping BOTH the hot mixture and the cold mixture into the 13×9 pan and then refrigerating? Thanks
Hi Bri, step 3 mentions you adding the boiled juice to the gelatin/cold juice mixture. I hope that helps.
What brands of juice do you recommend if you don’t have a juicer?