Herbal Sleepy Gummies

One thing that I have learned along my self-sufficient walk is that making effective herbal medicine is way easier than I thought it would be. It sounds really intimidating, right? First you have to learn what plants are even edible. Then trying to keep straight which ones have the properties you are searching for. Then you have to learn the different ways to actually put them to use.

I am here to encourage you that once you get a basic understanding on how just a few plants work, you can do so much! And once you begin to think of ways to use them in your home to support your family’s health, you begin to think of even more uses.

That’s exactly what happened when I was making gummies out of my Immune Boosting Syrup. The thought came to my mind, “Wouldn’t it be so nice if I could do this with other types of tea?” And so, I did. You can apply this method to any tea that you enjoy. What do your struggle with? Anxiety? You can totally make this recipe using herbs that help calm your nervous system. The opportunities are endless.

For this recipe you only need a few simple ingredients. I have a home apothecary and collection of medicinal herbs that I have grown and collected. You don’t have to have that to make these gummies. You can purchase already made tea bags that have the perfect blend for what you are looking for. For sleepy tea, Pukka tea found HERE, and Traditional Medicinals found HERE have been my go-to long before I began to dry my own herbs.

The next ingredient you will need to purchase is natural gelatin. I got mine HERE.

Now, if you want to make these gummies more potent, you can add a dropper or two of tincture. I would use this ONE. You will add this after you take the mixture off the burner later on. Tinctures are a really good way to get a high dose of properties that will start working very quickly after you ingest it.

You will also need honey. You CAN use raw honey, but honestly, I think just regular honey that is less expensive is just fine.

Add approximately 6 tea bags to a mason jar. You definitely can do more bags to have the gummies have a stronger taste and be more medicinally potent. The next time I make these, I plan to use 10. Bring water to a boil. Once it has cooled just a bit, pour into the jar containing the tea bags. Stir and let steep on the counter. You can add your honey at this point, or later on. Either way is great.

After the tea has cooled completely, place a lid on the jar and keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days to further extract the medicinal properties.

When it is time to take out of the fridge and your tea is a nice deep color like this, you can pour the liquid into a saucepan. For one batch of gummies, all you need is 1 cup of tea. If you would like to make several batches, you can add accordingly, or you can use the remaining tea to drink later that evening.

Bring the heat up to medium.

Next, you are going to add your GELATIN. If you are making just one batch you add 1/4 cup. The ration is 1/4. I used 4 cups of tea, so I used 1 cup of gelatin.

You will need a whisk for this part. Wish the gelatin into the tea mixture until smooth. If there are a few clumps, it’s okay, you can remove them when you skim the foam off the top.

Once the mixture has increased heat, boil for 1.5 minutes while stirring constantly.

I gave the next step away, didn’t I? Now you’re going to use a ladle and skim and foam or bubbles from the top. If you don’t your gummies will show and not be as appealing.

Once you have done this, you can remove the pot from the burner and let sit for a few minutes so that it is not piping hot to work with. Add your honey, and if you want to add the tincture, now is the time to do so. High heat will diminish their beneficial properties, so it’s important to wait until it has cooled a bit. If you used 1 cup of tea, I would do 1 dropper full to start out with.

This is the fun part. You will need to purchase GUMMY MOLDS. We chose these bear shaped ones, but you can shop around for a lot of other fun shapes. The link above includes 4 molds and 2 droppers.

Now you can begin to drop the mixture into the molds. Kids love to help with this part! I think that is just wonderful to include them so that can see how easy it is to make beneficial supplements like this. Don’t over fill on this part.

Next, you will let the gummies set up. This process is very quick, especially if you stick the mold into the refrigerator.

When the gummies have set up completely, turn the mold upside down over a bowl and use your finger to pop them out.

The truth is you are not going to overdo it on these because they are so gentle. For small children ages 1-4 I would start out giving 3 gummies. If you feel you need more, you can increase that amount. For adults, I would suggest adding the sleepy tincture mentioned above to make them more potent.

I hope you enjoy these gentle herbal gummies! Let me know in the comments below if you like this recipe.