Kanten Gummies- Healthy Treat For Your Kids As Well As For Yourself

Vegan, Gluten Free, High in Fiber, Intestinal Regulator

Kids and adults love fruit snacks! Gummy candies are a classic favourite. Although, packaged fruit snacks you find on grocery store shelves contain ingredients that we should try to stay away from. Some of these may include genetically modified additives, chemical preservatives, artificial flavours and synthetic colouring. Yuck! We thought, let’s make our own to feed our own! They turned out great. This recipe is very simple to make and only a few ingredients are required.

Agar powder (aka Kanten, agar-agar) is a seaweed derivative, and it is what we used in place of gelatin. Our Japanese Canadian family has been using Agar powder for as long as we can remember. Recently, it’s nice to see that it is very available in health food stores and most Asian markets. White and semi-translucent, it is sold in dried strips or powdered form.

Agar has been commonly used in Japanese cuisine, and has multiple uses. Not only a vegetarian substitute for gelatin, Agar is a thickening agent for soups, fruit preserves, ice cream and an appetite suppressant! Since it is 80% fiber, it serves as an intestinal regulator. Once ingested, Agar actually triples in size and absorbs water. You simply feel fuller. As a result, there are American studies that show that Agar has helped keep obesity low in Japan.

These gummies will have a firmer texture, and will be non-sticky, great for not sticking to your teeth!

Use easy to remove moulds. (Such as silicon moulds) Agar sets pretty fast so please be mindful to be quick when using moulds. We used small cookie cutters. They’ll keep for weeks in the refrigerator in an air tight container. They definitely will be devoured much quicker than that!

This recipe is also super easy to modify. Don’t be afraid to use vibrant vegetable and fruit juices such as carrot, beet, kale, pomegranate, lemon for a bit of tang. Experiment with different flavours!!

Makes approx. 30-40 1x1cm gummies

Cook/prep time: 5 minutes

Cool time: 10 minutes

Ingredients 

• 200ml of Juice (your choice!)
• 1tbsp Agar Powder
• 1tbsp cold Water
• 5~6tbsp Sugar of choice (we used organic cane sugar)

Directions

1. Mix Agar powder with same amount of cold water, set aside
2. Bring juice to a simmer in a pot
3. Add sugar while mixing constantly
4. Once sugar has melted in juice, add Agar powder mixed with water in the pot
5. Continue to mix until the liquid bubbles slightly
6. Take off the heat and pour into small moulds or pie dish
7. Cool in the refrigerator for approximately 10 minutes
8. Use small cookie cutters or pop out of the small moulds

Make sure you take a look at our other desserts!