This recipe is for spooky, creepy crawly, black as night gummies made from fruit juice and gut-healing beef gelatin for a Halloween treat that you’ll want to make year round. Read on for the Halloween Gummies recipe and complete tutorial! 

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Gummies are easy, simple, and fast to make. They are so fun to make, I know you’ll want to hang out in the kitchen with me, watch me make them, and start out on the right foot so your first (and every!) batch is a complete success! I have a fun video mini lesson inside the Free Homemade Gummies Course you can jump into here- join me! You’ll get exclusive gummy recipes and video lessons on how to get perfect gummies no matter what mold you have. And it’s free!

Jump in and watch STEP BY STEP as I make gummies on video. I share in detail exactly HOW to make these nutritional powerhouses. It’s a free mini course and you’ll get access to 3 super helpful videos that show you

the equipment

the ingredients

and the process

of making healthy homemade gummies. Dive in here!

The trick to making these black as sin Halloween Gummies is adding a secret ingredient. Note, you don’t HAVE to add it, but it definitely makes the gummies opaque, and completely black. You can’t taste it and it creates a fantastic effect that’s sure to delight. 

The ingredient that makes these gummies SO black is activated charcoal. 

That’s right. Just a few teaspoons and it turns grape juice (a lovely purple on its own) into a wonderful ebony. 

Note: Enjoying too much activated charcoal can potentially cause some medicines to be absorbed and could render them ineffective. Consult your doctor if you or your child takes medicines that could be affected by activated charcoal. I read this article on Women’s Health for more information on this topic. I think that in moderation for a healthy person who is not taking daily medicine, activated charcoal is fine, but please consult a professional.

Tools You Need For Making Halloween Gummies

You’ll need a saucepan and a whisk (crucial for mixing in the gelatin- you can see how I do it in the Free Homemade Gummies Course) but most importantly, of course, are the Bug Molds. These are made of silicone and can’t believe how well the bugs pop out of them (even the spider legs!).

Pro Tip: You MUST let the gummies cool till they are cold, preferably in the fridge, in order to get the centipede legs and spider legs out without tearing. Press up from the bottom of the mold and press the outside edge of the mold first- the legs on the spider for example- and then the middle of the shape to loosen. They will pop right out!

Halloween Gummies Recipe

You Will Need:

1 cup grape juice

2 teaspoons activated charcoal

3 tablespoons sugar (optional but makes the faint taste of the charcoal completely disappear)

1/4 cup beef gelatin

How to Make Halloween Gummies

Combine the 1 cup grape juice with the charcoal and the sugar in a saucepan.

Whisk over low-medium heat (a 3 on a electric stove that goes to 8, for example).

When the mixture is hot, and nearing a simmer (not quite simmering yet, but getting close, and steam is rising from it) SLOWLY start to whisk in, bit by bit, the 1/4 cup gelatin. Turn the whisk over, reverse direction, and whisk with vigor to discourage lumps. The grape juice mixture will be sweet, fragrant, black, and starting to look thicker. Remove from heat.

Using included droppers from mold set, fill the bug mold.

Pro Tip: Set the mold on a perfectly flat tray (not a plate that has curved edges) to fill.

When the bug mold is filled, place in a very cool place like the fridge until gummies are very firm, likely 30 minutes or so.

If you have extra, you can pour the remaining gummy liquid into a silicone ice cube tray or cupcake mold, or in a glass casserole dish to cool.

OR you can keep it warm on the stove, stirring often, until the first batch of gummies are cooled and removed from the mold. Repeat process.

How to Store Halloween Gummies

These aren’t shelf stable and should be stored in the fridge and if so will keep for months. These are a great thing to make ahead of time and enjoy all October long!

I made these for the first time and didn’t tell my kids. I packed them in their lunch as a fun October surprise. Imagine their faces when they saw black centipedes and spiders in their lunchbox!

This post will teach you how to make your own sourdough starter simply and easily at home. You can use your sourdough starter to make sourdough bread and sourdough pancakes, and you can keep your sourdough starter for years.

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Sourdough is a fermented food, did you know that? It’s a delicious and easy way to include the health benefits of fermentation into your diet and sourdough starter is the first step to making sourdough bread at home.

Sourdough starter is simple to make and I’ll share my best tips for success.

How to Make Easy Sourdough Starter

2 Cups All Purpose Flour – I’ve been liking the King Arthur White Whole Wheat for the added protein

2 1/4 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast – I like this kind because it comes in a glass jar that’s easily recycled and the lid closes really tightly for in between uses!

16 ounces (2 cups) warm water, 70-80 degrees F (Not hot enough to take a bath in, a warm room temperature)

Combine the ingredients in a glass bowl (see note about bowl below). Mixture may be lumpy and that’s ok. Cover with a thin kitchen towel, rubber band in place, and let sit for 2-3 days.

Stir daily and notice the bubbles and fermentation happening as soon as a few hours after combining. Sourdough will smell sour and will have many bubbles, and will more than double in size the first day.

If you notice any pink growth, discard and start over.

Note this bowl is likely the one the starter will live in for years. It will also double (or more!) in size so it must have a capacity of about 8 cups. Also choose a bowl that has a wider surface area rather than a tall and skinny shape. A mason jar is not the best choice; I chose this jar because it has a lid I can use when the starter is resting in the fridge and it is easy to rubber band a cloth around when it’s warming and growing on the counter.

Pro Tips for Successful Sourdough Starter

Use wooden utensils (or plastic) as metal reacts with the starter negatively. Do not use a metal spoon to make this or any easy sourdough starter.

Leave the starter in a warm place on the countertop when it is getting started. A cold countertop will slow or stop yeast growth.

Use a post-it note on the side of your jar or bowl telling you the day you need to return it to the fridge. I had trouble remembering until I started writing “put in fridge on Wednesday” on a note for myself.

To Store Easy Sourdough Starter

Covered in the refrigerator is a great place for the starter. Alternatively, a very cool place will suffice.

To Use Easy Sourdough Starter

Just measure out how much the recipe calls for, cover the jar back up, and return to the fridge. You’ll likely want to replenish the starter, however, as described below.

To Replenish Sourdough Starter After You’ve Used Some In a Recipe

If your recipe for bread or pancakes called for 1 cup of sourdough starter, add 1 cup flour and 1 cup warm water to the remaining starter and mix well. The same applies if the recipe called for 1 1/2 cups- replace with equal parts 1 1/2 flour and warm water. Leave sourdough in a warm place for about 6 hours, until mixture is bubbly, and return to refrigerator or other cool place.

You’ll Love My Recipe For Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

This post will teach you how to make elderberry gummies, and share a video tutorial to show you exactly how to make all kinds of gummies to which you can add any kind of healthful additive.

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Elderberries have long been reported to have immune boosting effects. This post won’t delve into those reported effects, nor will I explore the gut healing potential of using a high quality beef gelatin, nor the use of essential oils. I will be able to speak to the ease of making gummies– SO EASY- and how much my kids (and yours surely!) will love them.

I mixed my elderberry juice (you can juice your own or buy it) with cranberries (frozen from Thanksgiving) for vitamin C boost) and the taste was delightful.

The Homemade Healthy Gummy Mini Course

Jump in and watch STEP BY STEP as I make this exact recipe in video. I share in detail exactly HOW to make these nutritional powerhouses. It’s a free mini course and you’ll get access to 3 super helpful videos that show you

the equipment

the ingredients

and the process

of making healthy homemade gummies. Dive in here!

Elderberry Gummy Recipe

You Will Need

4 cups elderberry juice (explanation of juicing below)

2 cups cranberries (frozen is fine) (optional but added a great flavor and bonus vitamin C) OR 1 cup cranberry juice

2 tablespoons liquid Stevia OR 3 tablespoons honey to taste

1 cup beef gelatin (I love this brand because it is very high quality but you can also use this more common one too which is just as effective in terms of gel)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Optional: Essential oil of your choice – I love Doterra OnGuard for this recipe. 8 drops was plenty.

Making Elderberry Gummies

Pour juice(s) into a pan. Add apple cider vinegar and Stevia. Bring to a very low simmer. While warming, add the essential oil.

When mixture is just about to simmer, whisk in carefully and quickly the beef gelatin. Whisk vigorously for 1 minute, until the gelatin has dissolved.

Pour or use the included eye dropper to dispense the hot liquid into the mold.

Cool in refrigerator. Cooling time depends on the mold. Smaller molds cool much faster.

When cool, pop out of molds and into an airtight container (I love BPA free wide mouth canning jars) and store in the refrigerator.

Helpful tips for making Elderberry Gummies

Place the silicone molds or ice cube trays on a cookie sheet before filling.

Use a casserole dish if you don’t have a silicone mold and score cold gummies with a knife. Or, use a cookie cutter to cut shapes from the gummies.

Here’s where you can get ALL the gummy molds and gummy making supplies from my Amazon Storefront.

Juicing Elderberries for Elderberry Gummies

You’ll need about 6 cups of berries, mostly removed from the stems but some may remain (mine are always on the smallest stems).

You can use an old fashioned juicer used for canning which is very effective. Place the berries (and cranberries if you’re using them) in the top compartment, fill with water in the bottom compartment, bring to a boil, and juice will flow into the middle and down the accompanying tube.

Curious about canning? I have a Free Canning Basics Course! Jump in and let’s learn; it’s so much easier than you think!

Or, you can line a pasta pot strainer with cheesecloth, fill the bottom of the pot with water (this might be 2-4 cups depending on the size of the pot), add the berries (and cranberries if you’re using them) to the cheesecloth, and simmer for about an hour. Strain and measure the juice. Proceed back up to the recipe to make the elderberry gummies.

Ready to make Elderberry Gummies?

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