The second week of August is blueberry season here in Vermont …. we get about 2 to 4 gallons to freeze for the rest of year around. Most of them get laid out whole on trays and frozen (easier to separate and eat with fingers) before dumping them into quart-sized Ziploc freezer bags.
I reserve the mushier berries and puree those with chia seeds and pour that into ice cube trays that eventually get popped into Ziplocs as well. The nicest berries are put aside to make jello, almond crusted tarts, fruit leather, and of course blueberry jelly.
I stopped eating normal jelly when I was on The Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.) to heal yeast overgrowth. This gut healing protocol avoids sugar, including fruit sugars. I also really like food combining and find it hard to find anything that jelly ‘combines’ with, though it’s pretty tasty on raw flax crackers with some pumpkin seed butter 😉 Jelly contains concentrated amounts of fruit sugar/fructose; a perfect food for pathogenic organisms living in your body. Taking jelly, and other forms of sugar, off the food list means you stand a better chance at starving out the excess yeast (a.k.a. die-off) and supporting your body in doing what it does best, heal itself.
The good news is their are three types of sweeteners ‘allowed’ on B.E.D.; lakanto, ecobloom, and stevia; none of which influence blood sugar and so is safe for people with gut issues or diabetes. A few months into my sugar-free diet, I got the idea to kefir a jar of homemade blueberry jelly to get the sugar content down to nil. I’d already kefired other stuff, so this wasn’t a stretch. I did a trial run and YES! Super easy and probiotic-rich, see recipe below…
Bubbly Blueberry Jelly: A Probiotic-Rich Recipe ?
Makes: As much as you want!
Ingredients
1 (8oz) jar of organic, sugar-free blueberry jelly
1 1/2 Tbsp young coconut kefir (homemade or store-bought)
Method
- Clean a one cup Mason jar until squeaky clean.
- Mix ingredients together.
- Screw on lid.
- Let sit in a warm spot for 2-3 days at 72-74°F degrees F (we sell oven kits to maintain consistent temperatures).
- The probiotics have done their magic when bubbles rise up the sides of the jar and lid becomes pressurized.
- Store in fridge and eat within a week.
- Check out tips & tricks to maintain a bubbly jelly.
For those on B.E.D. or practicing food combining…
I think this recipe is best for the later stages of B.E.D. or other kind of healing diet. At least, this is what I did. The longer you kefir jelly, the less fruit sugar will be in there, so play and see how this food works for you. There’s also the food combining to mention. Imo, probiotic jelly is a fruit and best combined with soaked nuts, cheese, avocado, other fats and fruit. I food combine to a “T” and swear by it for keeping gas, bloating, and other uncomfortable digestive issues at bay.
I use this jelly in the morning by the spoonful mixed into a bowl of milk kefir, chia seeds, and green powder or swirled into a bowl of young coconut pudding with grated sour apple and soaked almonds. My favorite is slathered on raw flax crackers with cultured butter ?
Tips on Making Bubbly Jelly
My Food Combining Chart
Nutritional Consultations with Tara, NC.
May all bellies be happy!
