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denisedaniel – Page 11 – surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)

surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)

Author: denisedaniel

Rice Vermicelli Salad Bowls with Beef
Rice Vermicelli Salad Bowls with Beef

I love Vietnamese food. Seriously, I love it. Before the corn allergy, our local Vietnamese joint could recognize my voice before I even finished stating that I wanted to order takeout. The owner knew my name and my husband’s name, and what we generally ordered. If Shawn forgot what I wanted when stopping in to pick up dinner on his way home from work, the owner could reel off my five or so favorite dishes until Shawn heard the one that jogged his memory. I used to get #23 with Beef, i.e. Steamed Vermicelli Patties or Banh Hoi, that you wrap up in rice paper yourself, probably more than fifty percent of the time. So it was inevitable that I figure out how to make it myself in a way that’s safe for me. However, I didn’t actually do the rice paper and make my own fresh/salad rolls, because it’s winter (yes, I know it’s technically spring, but that’s not what’s outside and it snowed yesterday), I just moved, and I’m really tired. It’s all the good stuff without the rice paper wrapper, that’s all.

Rice Vermicelli Salad Bowls with Beef

Serves 4 or 2 really hungry people with maybe enough for a bit of lunch the next day.

Beef and Marinade:
- 1 and 1/2 pounds of beef sirloin beef tips, sliced across the grain into pieces about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide
- 1 garlic clove, minced and crushed to a paste (if you don’t have a garlic crusher, just mince it and smoosh it with a metal spoon)
- 1 shallot, finely minced, or 1/4 of a small onion, finely minced
- 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons of oil (make sure it’s safe for you, I used grape seed oil)
- 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce (I do well with San-J Tamari Gluten Free Soy Sauce, the alcohol is from cane sugar not corn), but if you can’t use soy, try Mary Kate’s recipe for a Soy-Free, gluten-free “Tamari Sauce”
- 1 Tablespoon of Sriracha (I use my own homemade from this recipe, but I use rice vinegar instead of distilled)
- a bit of oil for frying
Salad Fixings:
- 1 – 8 ounce package of fine rice vermicelli (for reference, this is what I used, no affiliation with Amazon, just ease of linking)
- Scallion Oil Garnish (here’s the recipe, although I used grape seed oil)
- fresh mint or fresh thai basil or both
- Spring Mix lettuce
- tomatoes, sliced
- cucumbers, sliced
- bean sprouts (I didn’t use them, but just because the grocery store didn’t have them today)
Condiments of your Choice:
- Sriracha
- Plum Sauce
- Hoisin sauce – I make my own, but if you don’t have a corn allergy, I think Wok Mei has one, but it does have soy)
- Thai Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce
- Carrot and Daikon Radish
Slice your beef to the correct thinness and length if you haven’t already.

Sirloin beef tips, sliced into smaller pieces, cut across the grain

Place garlic, shallot (or onion), brown sugar, oil, soy sauce and Sriracha in a bowl large enough to place the sirloin tips. Mix the ingredients well so that the sugar dissolves.

Marinade, well combined.

Add the beef and stir well. Set the beef aside let it marinate while you work on the rest of the dish.

Beef combined with marinade.

Fill a large pot with 3 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add your rice vermicelli and let boil for 3 minutes. Drain and place in a bowl to cool.

Rice vermicelli cooling.

In a skillet (I used a cast iron wok, because it’s new and I wanted to play with it, but you can use a cast iron skillet or other skillet), heat a bit of oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, place the beef in the skillet, making sure not to crowd, or have more than one layer.

Beef cooking in cast iron wok

You may (will) need to do it in batches. When you have a nice sear on one side, flip the beef over and sear the other side. Tongs really help for this. Depending on your skillet and your stove, it’ll take 2-4 minutes a side to sear (this make take some experimentation on your part). You might want to put the beef on a plate as you do batches.

Beef on a plate after being cooked in batches

Once you have finished cooking the beef, it’s time to assemble your salad bowl. Place some of the vermicelli in the bowl (you may need to cut it, as the noodles are long). Add the other salad fixings of your choice, and some of the beef. Then add the condiments of your choice and voila!

Rice Vermicelli Salad Bowls with Beef

Almost like the old days!
March 23, 2015
Crispy Duck
Crispy Duck

Crispy Duck
- 1 whole fresh duck (or some duck legs or breasts if you don’t want to deal with a whole duck)
- 1 Tablespoon of sea salt
- 2 teaspoons of Chinese Five Spice
- a pair of good kitchen shears
- roasting pan that can fit a rack in the bottom
- oven safe cookie rack that fits in the roasting pan
Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Remove the giblets from the duck, and using your kitchen shears cut out the duck’s backbone, and then cut the breast down the center so you have two half pieces of the duck. I also trimmed the first two sections of wing off, as I didn’t want them to burn during the cooking process. (Save the giblets, backbone, and wing sections to make stock later, or discard if you don’t want to use them.) Trim any extra fat away from the duck, and remove any remaining quills. Using a sharp knife, score the skin of the duck, but do not cut so deep that you cut the meat.

In a large shallow bowl, mix the sea salt and Chinese Five Spice so that it is mixed thoroughly. Placing each half of the duck in the bowl one at a time and use your hands to coat both sides of the duck half with the mixture.

Place the seasoned duck halves on the rack in the roasting pan. The rack allows the duck fat to drip to the bottom, otherwise you’ll be spooning fact out as the duck cooks. (You’re also going to want to save this fat to use later, it’s a great cooking fat, especially for those of us with no safe butter, margarine, or shortening.)

Seasoned duck halves before cooking

Place the duck in the pre-heated oven and roast for about two hours, turning the duck halves every half hour. Once the duck reaches an internal temperature of 165°F, turn the oven up to 425°F for 15 minutes to really crisp up the skin.

Cooked duck halves

Remove the pan from the oven and let the duck cool enough that you can remove the meat from the bones without burning your fingers to bits. Then remove the meat from the bones. (Save the bones to make stock later, or discard if you don’t want to use them.)

Duck meat removed from the bones

You can eat this with Chinese pancakes, sliced cucumbers, scallions, and Hoisin sauce, like you would eat Peking Duck. Since I didn’t want to try to deal with coming up with a recipe for gluten-free Chinese pancakes, I used rice paper and ate the duck with lettuce, rice vermicelli noodles, sliced cucumber, sliced onion (I forgot to buy scallions), Carrot and Daikon pickle, homemade plum sauce, homemade Hoisin Sauce, and homemade Sriracha.

Enjoy!

Crispy Duck in rice paper with rice vermicelli and veggies
March 9, 2015
Plum Sauce
Plum Sauce

I have another canning inspired recipe for you. I made and canned plum sauce because I wasn’t able to find a safe commercial version for me, and because I eat a lot of Asian and Asian inspired food. Since I’ll be using this as a condiment for some of the dishes that are coming up, I decided to post a version that you can do without canning. If you want to can this recipe, it’s found in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving on page 285 (linked to Amazon for convenience, no affiliation). I’ve cut the quantities down so that it only makes about a pint of sauce, so that you can use it before it goes bad without canning it. If I’m overestimating your potential use, you could also freeze half of it.

Plum Sauce
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar (make sure it’s safe for you, I corn-ed myself good by not reading labels on brown sugar once. If it says inverted sugar on it, don’t buy it if you’ve got an allergy to corn)
- 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar (Bragg’s is generally safest for corn allergies)
- 3 Tablespoons of finely chopped onion
- 1/2 Tablespoon of finely chopped jalapeno or other green chili pepper
- 1/2 Tablespoon of mustard seeds
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 – 1 clove of garlic (recipe converted calls for half a clove, but if you like garlic, by all means use it up)
- 3/4 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger
- 2 1/2 cups of pitted, finely chopped plums
In a large stainless steel or other non-reactive (ceramic or enamel, do not use aluminum or cast iron) pot, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, vinegar, onion, jalapeno, mustard seeds, salt, garlic, and ginger. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add the plums, and return the mixture to a boil. Then reduce the heat and boil gently stirring occasionally until the mixture is thick and syrupy, about 2 hours.

Since this recipe is not being canned, at this point you could choose to use a stick blender to puree the mixture to a smooth consistency. (Note: If you are canning the recipe, follow the directions in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and do not puree the sauce. You could be risking botulism otherwise.)

Let the sauce cool, and once cool enough, place in a container in the fridge (or freeze some) to store. I usually put mine in a squeeze bottle so that I can use it like ketchup.

Enjoy!
February 23, 2015
Chocolate Covered Peppermint Marshmallows
Chocolate Covered Peppermint Marshmallows – Photo by J. Andrews

Because we needed candy for the holidays, we decided to experiment with the marshmallow recipe we’d already posted, to add peppermint flavoring and cover them in chocolate. These would also be a great Valentine’s Day treat. Normally I’d list out the ingredients in the order that you’re going to use them, but since you’re going to have to make some ingredients ahead of time, I’ve listed those first. These marshmallows are a bit sturdy because they needed to hold up to being dipped in chocolate, but if you want them to be lighter with a little less structure, knock back the amount of gelatin by a tablespoon.

Marshmallows:

Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup of cane sugar syrup (You will need to make it ahead of time – there are two good recipes and I’ve used both before. The one from thekitchn.com makes about a quart, and the one from justapinch.com makes about two cups.)
- 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (You will need to make it ahead of time – here’s a recipe from glutenfreegigi.com on how to do it. I used tapioca starch, or Trader Joe’s has a powdered sugar that uses tapioca starch instead of corn starch, but check the labels every time.)
- 1-2 Tablespoons of homemade peppermint extract or 4-5 drops of peppermint essential oil (To make my extract, I used dried peppermint and spearmint leaves in place of fresh, as described here. I use either Vikingfjord or Luksusowa Vodka because they are made only from potatoes, where some vodkas may also use grain or corn.)
- 4 Tablespoons of unflavored gelatin powder (Knox or Great Lakes are generally regarded as being okay if you’re not super sensitive to corn, again no affiliation with Amazon, just linking for reference)
- 1 1/4 cups of cold water, divided
- 1 1/2 cups of cane sugar (make sure you use a safe-for-you brand)
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch (You could also use potato or arrowroot starch, whatever’s safe for you)
- safe-for-you-oil for greasing the pan or you can use the oil in an oil mister as well
- safe for you chocolate for melting – We used Dancing Lion’s Dark Chocolate for Baking, a product that is no longer available
Kitchen Stuff you will need:
- Stand mixer with the whisk beater attached
- candy thermometer that will clip on the side a saucepan
- 3 or 4 quart saucepan
- 9 x 13 baking pan or another flat container to spread out your marshmallows
- a pizza cutter or a sharp knife
- the normal assortment of bowls, measuring cups, spatulas, forks or whisks and so on
Grease or spray your baking pan with the oil. Use a paper towel to wipe the pan and make sure that every surface is coated in a thin layer of oil. Put the baking pan and a spatula next to your stand mixer, which should already have the whisk beater on it and your splatter guard ready to go.

Mix a 1/2 cup of cold water in a measuring cup along with the peppermint extract or peppermint oil. Put the gelatin into the bowl of the stand mixer, and pour the water and vanilla mixture over it while whisking it with a fork or a small whisk. Mix until there are no lumps. Put the bowl back into your stand mixer and attach it.

Gelatin, water, and vanilla extract well mixed

Place your saucepan on the burner and clip your candy thermometer to the side of the saucepan. Add the rest of the water (3/4 of a cup), and add the cane sugar, cane sugar syrup and salt. Don’t stir it up.

water, sugar, cane sugar, syrup and salt with candy thermometer

Place the saucepan over high head and bring it to a rapid boil. Boil until the sugar mixture measures some where between 245ºF and 250ºF. Don’t let it go any higher than 250ºF. Take the saucepan off the burner and remove the candy thermometer.

Sugar mixture at a boil

Turn on the stand mixer to medium and CAREFULLY pour the sugar mixture down the side of the stand mixer bowl. There will be some bubbling, so go slowly. Also it will freaking burn and hurt if you spill it on yourself, so please don’t.

When all the sugar mixture is in the mixing bowl and is mixed to together, make sure your splatter guard is down and increase the mixing speed to high. Continue to mix on high for 10 minutes. Make sure you do the full 10 minutes.

Whipping marshmallow mixture

Once the ten minutes is up, do not dally, get the marshmallow mixture into the baking pan as fast as you can as it will start to cool really fast, and you want to be able to spread it out in the pan. Use a spatula to scrap out the bowl, but it’s really think and sticky, so you won’t get every bit out. Once it’s in the pan, spray or coat your hands with your oil and spread out the marshmallow evenly.

Marshmallows spread evenly in baking pan

Let the marshmallows sit uncovered and at room temperature for 6 or more hours. Don’t let it go any longer than 24 hours though. Once they have cooled, mix your powdered sugar and tapioca starch in a bowl.

Powder sugar and tapioca starch mixture

Take a large cutting board or cookie sheet and sprinkle some of the powdered sugar mix on it. Then sprinkle the top of the marshmallow in the pan with the mixture and smooth it out over the surface. Flip the pan over onto your cutting board. Once you’ve got them out of the pan, sprinkle more of the mixture over the top of the marshmallow layer that was previously on the bottom of the pan.

Marshmallows powered before cutting

Cut your marshmallows using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter into small squares.

Marshmallow pieces cut by pizza cutter

Put each square in the bowl with the powdered sugar and tapioca and toss it until coated thoroughly. (If you have extra marshmallow coating afterwards, put it in a jar and use it the next time.)

Marshmallow being tossed in marshmallow coating

Once you’re done with your marshmallows, it’s time to dip them in chocolate. You can melt in a double boiler, but our resident Master Chocolatier, Rich Tango-Lowy, at the Dancing Lion in Manchester, New Hampshire, recommends the use of the microwave because you don’t want to get any water in the chocolate which would ruin the crystalline structure. There’s all kinds of science on chocolate tempering that Rich explained at a lecture Mary Kate and I attended, but for our purposes, being lowly food bloggers, putting the chocolate in a microwave safe Pyrex or Corning ware container, and nuking it for ten seconds, checking it and repeating that until it’s melted (make sure you don’t burn it) works for us.

We used a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper to place our dipped marshmallows while they cooled. Dip your marshmallows in the chocolate, or simply drizzle the chocolate over the top. We ended up mostly drizzling because we were making too big a mess with the dipping process.

Chocolate Covered Peppermint Marshmallows – Photo by J. Andrews

Bonus picture because Mary Kate and Jack decided to play with my stuffed sheep collection when I left Mary Kate and Jack unattended in my apartment for a short period of time:

Chocolate Covered Peppermint Marshmallows with Sheep – Photo by J. Andrews

Enjoy!
February 9, 2015
Green Tomatillo Rice
Green Tomatillo Rice

I needed a really simple dinner the other night because I wasn’t all that hungry, but I had to eat something and it was already 10:00 p.m. (I really need to stop doing that kind of thing.) So since I’m trying to work through all this rice that I keep buying at Asian markets because I cannot walk away from how inexpensive it is compared to regular grocery stores, I decided to throw a rice thing together. I liked it enough that I’ll make it again, and I can see this as being a great side dish to go with tacos (or in my case, taco salads, as I haven’t found a safe tortilla recipe I can stand) or with fajitas.

Green Tomatillo Rice
- 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, or other oil that’s safe for you
- 1 cup of rice (I used sushi rice because that’s what I’m trying to use up, but any rice would work, arborio would be lovely)
- 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 – 16 ounce jar of green tomatillo salsa that’s safe for you (I used my home-made, home-canned version)
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups of water, depending on how tender you like your rice
- 1 to 2 Tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro (optional)
In a large skillet with a lid, add the oil, rice, onion and garlic, and stir with a spatula over medium heat. When the onion is translucent, add the water, salsa and cilantro, and stir to mix thoroughly. Turn the heat to medium high, put the lid on and bring the rice mixture to a boil. When the rice mixture reaches a boil, stir it, put the lid back on, and bring the heat down until the mixture just simmers. Simmer for 10 to 20 minutes, until the rice is tender, and the sauce is thick.

Enjoy!

Green Tomatillo Rice
January 26, 2015
Microwave Individual-ish Chocolate Wacky Cake
Microwave Individual-ish Chocolate Wacky Cake

You know how there are those brownie in a mug recipes out there? And how none of them work for those of us with food allergies who need a really quick cake fix and (1) can’t wait 35-40 minutes for a cake to bake, or (2) can’t eat a whole cake before it goes stale? Well, now you can have a nice smallish cake that cooks in the microwave in between 7-8 minutes, which is good, or really bad, depending on your perspective. I’ve eaten a lot of cake in the last week getting this recipe right, and I think the psyllium really rocks. It gives the cake a consistency and body similar to that of a regular cake with regular flour. I give you almost instant cake. You’re welcome!

Microwave Individual-ish Chocolate Wacky Cake

Makes 8 inch round cake.
- a bit of olive oil, or another mild oil that’s safe for you, to grease the pan
- 3/4 cup of all purpose gluten-free flour mix (I used Cara Reed’s mix from her blog, Fork and Beans)
- 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder that’s safe for you (I used Penzey’s Dutch Process although some that are allergic to corn cannot tolerate it)
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar, or other mild vinegar that’s safe for you
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (Here’s a bunch of recipes for vanilla extract, make sure to use safe alcohol if corn or wheat are an issue for you. I use either Vikingfjord or Luksusowa Vodka because they are made only from potatoes, where some vodkas may also use grain or corn.)
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil, or another mild oil that’s safe for you
- 1 Tablespoon of whole husk psyllium (no affiliation with Amazon, just linking so you can see the product)
- 1/2 cup of water (water amounts are provided separately because they are used at different points in the recipe)
- 1/4 cup of water and 3 Tablespoons of water
Grease a microwave safe 8 inch piece of stoneware, Corning ware or Pyrex, with your safe oil. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the AP gluten-free flour mix, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt, and use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients thoroughly.

In a small bowl, whisk the psyllium and 1/2 cup of water together thoroughly. It will jell up fairly quickly.

Make three little depressions or wells in the dry mix, add the vanilla to one, the oil to another and the vinegar to the third. Add the psyllium mixture and the remaining water water to the bowl, and mix with the whisk until the mixture is mostly smooth. The psyllium is going to make things a bit lumpy, so don’t worry about that.

Pour the cake batter into your greased pan, and microwave on high for 7-8 minutes (my microwave is 1100 watts, times may vary with different microwaves) or until the cake pulls away from the edge of the pan.

Microwave Individual-ish Chocolate Wacky Cake

Let the cake cool, and then cut and serve, or just eat it out of the pan.

Microwave Individual-ish Chocolate Wacky Cake

Enjoy!
January 12, 2015
Tod Mun (Thai Fish Cakes)
Tod Mun (Thai Fish Cakes)

Have I ever said how much I love Thai food? And that my first date with my husband was at a Thai place? Because of the corn, wheat, and coconut allergies, going out for Thai food really isn’t an option anymore. And I miss it, very much. I used to order this appetizer often in the long, long ago before food allergies, and when Mary Kate and I talked about doing a Fry-Day for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to give it a shot. I was very happy. I may have even teared up because it was just like our local Thai joint’s version.

Tod Mun:

Makes about 10-15 or so.

Cucumber Salad/Dipping Sauce:
- 1 cup of Thai Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce
- 1 cucumber peeled and diced
- 1 cup of cashews, toasted in a skillet or roasted in the oven (If you can have peanuts, use roasted peanuts. If you can’t have nuts, just leave them out.)
Tod Mun:
- 1 pound of Haddock (or other mild white fish, such as Pollock or Halibut)
- 5 ounces of uncooked shrimp, peeled and tail off.
- 2 Tablespoons of Thai Red Curry Paste (If you can use a commercial version, great, but if not, here’s a recipe for it.)
- 1 Tablespoon of safe for you fish sauce (If you don’t have one you can leave it out).
- 1 bunch of scallions, trimmed and chopped into small pieces
- 1 chia egg (1 Tablespoon of ground or milled chia seed mixed with 3 Tablespoons of water)
- safe oil for frying enough to fill the pot about 3 to 4 inches deep
For the frying:
- A pot deep enough to accommodate about 3 inches of oil and the frying thermometer, a thick stainless steel stock pot or an enameled dutch oven would be best. You also want a pot that’s tall enough that the edge is 4 or more inches above the oil level. It’s safer and there’s less splatter all around. We do not recommend using anything with Teflon or nonstick coatings. Of course, if you have an actual deep fryer appliance, use that.
- frying thermometer (the link goes to the one we used)
- tongs and/or slotted frying spoon/spider (we used a silicone one rather than the traditional wire and bamboo, but I can’t find a picture of ours)
- plate or cookie sheet, lined with paper towels
Set up your frying pot, add your safe oil, and set up your thermometer. Start heating your oil over medium heat, as it will take some time to reach the right temperature. You are aiming for about 350ºF.

Chop your toasted/or roasted cashews and place them in a bowl. Add your your peeled and diced cucumber and the Thai Hot and Sweet Dipping Sauce, and mix well to combine. Set aside.

Cucumber Salad/Dipping Sauce

Chop the haddock into pieces small enough to put in your food processor. Place the haddock and the shrimp in a food processor with the regular cutting blade and process until the haddock and shrimp forms a smooth paste. Empty the mixture into a large mixing bowl, making sure you scrape down all the sides of the food processor bowl carefully. Also, wash your food processor parts immediately. You really don’t want the fish mixture to dry to your food processor bowl, cover and blade.

Mix in the Thai Red Curry Paste and fish sauce, until well combined. Then add the scallions and chia egg, and mix thoroughly.

Tod Mun mixture before frying

Once your oil is hot and has reached 350ºF. Use two large spoons to form a rough patty, and drop it into the oil. Depending on the size of your pot, you may only be able to do a few at a time. I had a 10 quart stockpot and I was only able to do about five at time.

Use large spoons to make rough patties

Fry them for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.. Place them to drain on the paper towels.

Fried Tod Mun (Thai Fish Cakes)

Fried Tod Mun (Thai Fish Cakes)

Once you have fried all of them, serve them with the cucumber salad/dipping sauce.

Tod Mun (Thai Fish Cakes)

Enjoy!
December 29, 2014
Gum Drops
Gum Drops – Photo by J. Andrews

So it’s that holiday time of year. And I like my sweets on holidays, so Mary Kate and I got together to make some candy a couple of weeks ago. (I burned and ruined one pot that day, so you’re not getting a recipe for caramels, until I get a new pot and try it again.) One of the things we tried that was a hit was the gum drops. I actually made them ahead of time because there’s some processing time between steps (AT LEAST 3 DAYS, please read the whole recipe), and we wanted to use them for a construction project (teaser for next week’s post). The recipe I started with was located here at Bakerella. If you can use commercial extracts and commercial food coloring, you can use the recipe as it is. But I can’t. So I used Cara Reed’s ideas from her book, Decadent Gluten-Free Vegan Baking (see Mary Kate’s review here) for food coloring for the green, and then extended her idea and used carrots for the orange. I also used the homemade extracts that I’ve made and some lemon essential oil. You’ll see four colors of gum drops in the picture, but the best were the lime and orange and the other flavors still need more work before they are blog-worthy.

Gum Drops

The recipe for the gum drops makes one batch of one flavor. To make both flavors, either double the amounts for the gum drop and put the ingredients for one flavor in each half of the batch, or use the amounts below for the batch, and use half of the amounts for the flavors in each half of the batch.

To make Orange Flavor:
- 2 teaspoons of Orange Food Coloring (To make orange food coloring, take 1/2 cup of peeled, chopped carrots, and cook over medium heat in water in a small sauce pan until tender. Drain the water, saving 1/4 of a cup aside. Place drained carrots and 1/4 cup of reserved cooking water in a blender and process until smooth. Place in a storage container and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks).
- 4 drops of Lemon Essential Oil (make sure it’s pure and not cosmetic grade)
- 2 Tablespoons of homemade orange extract (I used orange peels as described here and I use either Vikingfjord or Luksusowa Vodka because they are made only from potatoes, where some vodkas may also use grain or corn.)
To make Lime Flavor:
- 2 teaspoons of Green Food Coloring (To make green food coloring, take 1 cup of fresh spinach and boil in 3 Tablespoons of water for 5 minutes while covered. Pour spinach and water in a blender and process until smooth. Place in a storage container and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks).
- 4 drops of Lemon Essential Oil (make sure it’s pure and not cosmetic grade)
- 2 Tablespoons of homemade lime extract (I used lime peels as described here and I use either Vikingfjord or Luksusowa Vodka because they are made only from potatoes, where some vodkas may also use grain or corn.)
Gum Drops:
- 2 Tablespoons of unflavored gelatin powder (Knox or Great Lakes are generally regarded as being okay if you’re not super sensitive to corn, again no affiliation with Amazon, just linking for reference)
- 1/2 cup of cold water
- 3/4 cup of boiling water
- 2 cups of sugar
- extra sugar for coating the gum drops
- a bit of safe for you oil to coat the container in which you’ll cool your gum drops
- a container about 4 inches by 8 inches in which to cool your gum drops (I used two sandwich sized Rubbermaid food storage containers so my gum drops were a little thinner than normal.)
Grease your container to cool your gum drops with your safe oil.

In a large pot, add the gelatin and cold water. Whisk them together until the gelatin is completely moistened. Let the gelatin and water mixture sit for five minutes.

Add the boiling water and whisk until the gelatin dissolves. Add the sugar and stir it into the gelatin mixture.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil for 25 minutes.

Pour the mixture into your greased container and mix in the food coloring, extract and essential oil, until it is thoroughly combined.

Cover the container and put it in the fridge overnight to set.

Take out the container and use a knife dipped in hot water to cut 3/4 inch squares. I found it easiest to take the whole gum drop sheet out of the container (which is no small feat) and place it on a greased plastic cutting board and cut them on the board.

Roll the cubes in sugar on all sides and place them on waxed paper or parchment paper (whatever is safest for you, those allergic to corn may have trouble with waxed paper), and let them dry at room temperature for two days to let the sugar dry and the gum drop harden a bit.

Enjoy!

Gum Drops – Photo by J. Andrews
December 15, 2014