Make natural product-based sweets

Sweets are still a popular children's treat yet are far from being good for them: excess sugar, artificial colours, animal-derived gelatine, flavour enhancers, perservatives, oher additives and more. Do we need to go on ? The solution is relatively straightforward: ban mass-produced sweets and maje your own homemade ones as a family.


Bonbon

This simple recipe uses natural products (preferably organic), and your children can lend a helping hand. The only downside (if you could really call it that) is that the sweets do not have a long shelf life; store them in the fridge and consume within 1-2 days. You certainly won’t hear your kids complaining about that!

Jellied fruit sweets

Shopping list:

  • Silicone confectionery mould
  • Pipette (or failing that a teaspoon)
  • Saucepan
  • Seasonal fruits or fruit juice (preferably organic)
  • Agar-agar (natural gelling agent)
  • Sugar

Crush the fruit to obtain juice, then transfer the liquid to a saucepan. Add a teaspoon of agar-agar to the fruit pulp and a pinch of sugar to taste (roughly a tablespoon). Bring to the boil. When the entire mixture has liquified, turn off the heat and fill the moulds. Please note: the agar-agar will harden as it cools so this step must be carried out fairly quickly. Place the moulds in the fridge and let the sweets set for a few hours before unmoulding them.

See your children’s faces light up and enjoy!

Fruit belts

Shopping list:

  • Seasonal fruits
  • Mixer/blender
  • Oven and baking tray (or large oven dish)

Chop and blend your chosen fruits. Add a pinch of sugar or honey (or one gram of stevia) to the fruit puree, then spread it over your baking tray. Let the mixture dry out in the oven for at least 5 hours: 30 minutes at 60°C, then approx. 4.5 hours at a temperature between 45 and 50°C. The results will be a soft (and fragile) sweet. Cut it into narrow pieces (belts) and enjoy!