Extraordinary Health Magazine Extraordinary Health Vol 30 | Page 19

HERE ’ S THE BASIC RECIPE FOR ALMOST ALL GUMMY VITAMINS :
SUGAR & SYRUP Sugar syrups ( from beetsugar and corn — these are the most common sources ) Sugar ( in addition to the syrup , most manufacturers use additional sugar to sweeten , coat and give good texture to the gummy )
ARTIFICIAL COLORS & FLAVORS
Flavors and Colors ( artificial , “ natural ”)
GELATIN AND / OR PECTIN
( pectin is a type of fiber that thickens and helps hold the gummy together – it ’ s been used for a century to help make fruit jellies and preserves )
USP VITAMINS Vitamins ( synthetic , chemically isolated vitamins )
CORNSTARCH MOLDS
Molds to pour and shape the gummy ( typically coated with corn starch – remember this because it ’ s a key to unlocking the mystery )
Manufacturers combine the sugars over heat , and add in the gelatin and / or pectin . They flavor and color the mixture . These steps are all common to candy making . What happens next is that the vitamins are added . The gummy blend is then poured into the mold which has been coated with corn starch to help release the gummies after they are dried . After cooling and drying , the gummies are then dumped out of the corn starch mold and readied to go for bottling .
SO , WITH THIS SIMPLE PROCESS , WHY COULDN ’ T WE MAKE A VEGAN AND KOSHER CERTIFIED GUMMY VITAMIN ?
Gelatin . This amazing food ingredient found in almost every gummy — candy or vitamin — a staple in sauces , desserts and little French gelee candies is made from boiled pig hides . If it ’ s not pig , it ’ s cow hide gelatin .
This pig-hide gelatin gets poured into the corn starch mold to set . That corn starch is not officially part of the recipe , so it may not be replaced on a daily basis , or even a monthly basis . That means that , even on the days when the factory is running a pectin gummy rather than a gelatin gummy , it all still touches the same corn starch mold . And there it is — the corn starch “ cross-contaminates ” everything preventing both Vegan and Kosher certification .
Eventually , I ran out of manufacturers in the U . S . They were all too busy to consider learning a new way to make gummies .
An industry friend introduced me to a family-owned fruit company in Europe . Five generations ago , the founder harvested apples and cherries in local orchards and began processing them into purées and sauces . As the company grew they expanded
into freeze-dried fruit and vegetable powders , and the youngest generation expanded into fruit leathers and chews .
When we met , we immediately knew we had the unique opportunity to create something new and innovative together . They would use their Certified Organic , gelatin-free , fruit-chew technology to create our Certified Organic real food multivitamin .
HOW IS OUR RECIPE DIFFERENT THAN NORMAL CANDY-STYLE GUMMIES ?
Start with the first two ingredients . Most gummy vitamins list sugar and some sort of sugar syrup as their first two ingredients but not mykind Organics . Ours are organic apples and peaches . We start off with the entire fruit purée and juice and concentrate it ( removing water ) for our base .
The next ingredients are what has always set mykind Organics apart : our Certified Organic Real Food Vitamin Blend . Of course we add in our Vegan Vitashine D3 and our gummies are lightly dusted at the end of production with organic rice flour .
We never add sugar to our gummies . We don ’ t coat them in crystals , use sugar syrups to make them or add sugar – not even organic cane sugar — to sweeten them .
Finally , we never use corn starch molds . Our molds were made for us so , all of our whole food gummies are Kosher Parve in addition to being Certified Vegan .
When I brought these home for my kids to try , I was a hero in my house . Now , every morning they reach out — on their own — for the multivitamin they “ helped ” create . ( My wife and I take ours every day , too .)
Vol 30 • Extraordinary Health ™ 17