Sugar Free Sour Jubes

Before losing a chunk of pancreas and having to commit to a keto diet, I was a HUGE fan of gummy candies, and anything even close to them.

Regular, sour, actual gummies, Dino sours, jujubes... if it was chewy and some type of fruit flavour, I loved it!

Now that I can’t do sugar anymore, my gummy options are limited.

I can still go to Bulk Barn to quell the craving, but instead of their glorious row or two of options, there’s one or two - worms, sometimes bears - no jujubes, and anything sugar free uses maltitol.

Not ideal, obviously.

So, I’ve taken to making my own.

Recently, I shared my recipe for Sugar-Free Sour Peach Gummies, today I’m sharing a homemade, keto-friendly version of another favourite:

Sour Ju Jubes!

Now, these don’t have QUITE the same texture as actual jujubes. Actual jujubes get some of their texture from the inclusion of starches, which aren’t really an option when you’re trying to keep the carbs as low as possible.

So, I upped the amount of gelatin, for a firmer gummy-type candy. Not a perfect replica, but it definitely scratches that itch!

On that note, due to the sweetener I use - and the fact that I skipped using starches - this ends up to be a zero carb treat! The only carbs are from the sugar alcohols.

Anyway, lots of say, so let’s get to it!

Ingredients

If you’re someone who does a lot of baking in general, you’ll probably be familiar with all of the needed ingredients.

If you’re on a keto diet as a former gummy candy addict, I definitely recommend investing in them, and having them on hand for when a craving hits!

Homemade sugar free gummies have definitely gone a long way to keeping me on the diet, that’s for sure!

Anyway, a few ingredient notes for you:

Sweetener

While you can use a Erythritol / Monkfruit Blend Sweetener - like Swerve Granular Sweetener - I tend to use Allulose.

I was just never a fan of the way that erythritol crystalizes, and the weird cooling sensation it can cause in the mouth.

Allulose is a bit more expensive and harder to come by in Canada, but I find it totally worth the cost and effort!

Collagen Peptides

I include Unflavored Collagen Peptides Powder in all of my gummies.

It’s colourless, flavourless, odorless, and doesn’t affect the texture in any way.

What it DOES do is boost the protein content, while also getting a dose of collagen in - it’s good for joints, skin, hair, and more.

I use Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides, but any brand should work.

That said, if it’s not something you tend to have on hand, you can easily just leave it out - no other adjustments needed!

Gelatin

Gelatin is what sets up any kind of keto gummies recipe, and this recipe has a higher concentration of it than most of my gummy recipes.

This is because jujubes are more dense than most gummy candies. This is from the inclusion of starch - rather than more gelatin - but that would add unwanted carbs.

While more gelatin gives a slightly different texture from actual jujubes, I like that the firmness of it is a bit different than my normal gummy candy recipes. I like variety!

Anyway, I use Great Lakes Unflavored Beef Gelatin, which I buy in 1 lb containers.

I make a lot of keto protein gummies, so I go through a lot of it. You CAN use the packets of knox gelatin if you’re only making a single batch, though.

It’s just far cheaper to buy it in bulk packaging, when you’ll be doing this semi regularly!

Flavouring

This recipe makes a batch of candy that’s half the size of most of my other batch of protein gummies. To most closely mimic the experience of having sour jujubes, I wanted a variety of flavours in mine!

So, I made a half batch each of 5 flavours.

While this would normally be cherry, orange, lemon, lime, and black licorice, it turned out - at the last minute! - that I didn’t have any orange flavour on hand!

So, I used, Lorann Cherry Flavor Oil, Lorann Mango Flavor Oil, Lorann Lemon Flavor Oil, and Lorann Key Lime Flavor Oil for the fruit flavours, and Lorann Black Licorice Flavor Oil for the sour black licorice.

This recipe was designed to use Lorann Flavor Oil specifically - it’s super concentrated, and tastes much better than some of the alternatives.

That said, if you do want to substitute a different flavour, you may find yourself needing to use a bit extra - be sure to taste, and add more if it needs it.

On that note:

For this recipe, I use 1 teaspoon Lorann Flavor Oil for the fruit flavours, and only ¾ for the black licorice batch.

The slightly more mild amount of licorice makes it taste much closer to the sour black junes, than if I used a full strength batch.

Food Colouring

I recommend using Gel Food Coloring for making any kind of candy.

It’s super concentrated, so you’ll need less of it than you would if you were using liquid food colouring.

Also, it doesn’t add anywhere near as much liquid to the recipe as liquid food colouring does, so it won’t mess with your texture at all.

There are several brands of gel colours out there, you can usually find one or more of them at larger craft chains, and at cake decorating supply stores.

Citric Acid

Citric Acid is what gives these jubes their sour bite. Two things to note:

1. Even if you don’t want to make them actually sour, you’ll want to use a little citric acid - like ½ tsp. Without it, homemade gummies taste really flat.

2. It’s important to add the citric acid at the end, as I call for. Heating citric acid denatures it - it won’t be as sour, might end up bitter, and - in some recipes at higher temps - it can burn.

Equipment

You’ll need a small pot, a whisk - ideally a Sauce & Gravy Whisk, to prevent the mixture from burning on the bottom of the pan.

Then, you’ll need something to pour the gelatin into.

I am a HUGE fan of gummy molds, and probably have more than I’ll ever need. In general, my go-to shapes are:

Dinosaur Gummy Mold
Gummy Worm Molds
Gummy Bear Molds

... but I also love other Gummy Animal Molds.

This time around - to be more in line with what sour jujubes look like - I used a small fruit shape mold from Michaels, as well as another mold from there to make the "gumdrops" shape of the sour licorice ones.

(I'd already used the drops one for a batch of my Sugar Free Salty Black Licorice Gummies.)

It's good to have a mold or two dedicated to licorice flavored gummies, if you'll be making those - the licorice flavour can (but not always) seep into the molds after using them.

This doesn't tend to be the case with other flavours, except like... peppermint.

If you don't have gummy molds, you can just pour the whole batch into an 8 x 8 pan, cutting into small cubes when set. Alternatively, silicone mini muffin pans work great!

How to Make Sugar Free Sour Jubes

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the bottom of this post, here is the pictorial walk through.

In a small pot, whisk together the sweetener, collagen, and gelatin. Be sure to FULLY combine it, or you’ll end up with lumps.

Add water, whisk to combine.

Heat over medium heat, until everything is smooth and dissolved. Remove from heat.

Add flavour oil and citric acid, stir well to dissolve.

Once gummies are fully set, carefully remove them from the molds.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or so.

Notes

You can skim foam off the gelatin mixture before filling the cavities, and you can also use a clean wet finger to pop bubbles / skim foam from the gummies after filling the cavities. This is just a cosmetic thing, and optional.

The carbohydrates from this recipe are entirely from the sugar alcohols in the sweetener - it's a 0 net carb treat!

More Keto Candy Recipes

Looking for more low carb, sugar-free ways to satisfy your sweet tooth? I've got you!

High Protein Sugar Free Gummies
Homemade BCAA Gummies
Sugar-Free Gummy Frogs
Keto Cream Cheese Mints
Sugar Free Bananas Foster Truffles
Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Truffles
Sugar Free Sour Cherry Cola Gummies
Sugar-Free Salty Black Licorice Gummies
Sugar Free Sour Peach Gummies

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