I was talking with a parent at Mathew’s school the other day. Apparently, her daughter suffers from numerous allergies that range from seasonal to food. Unfortunately, it has not only limited her daughter’s options but now she is scared to try most new things in fear that she may have an allergic reaction. Of course, I shared my experience with goldenrod with the mom. She was rather excited to try something new with her daughter. She did warn me though that her daughter was a very picky eater and may not try the goldenrod.

Since the girl was very particular about what she ate or consumed, I first gave them dried goldenrod to make tea. I wanted to start slowly.  Unfortunately, she had never drunk tea before and was not going to start with goldenrod. A while ago, I read about herbal jello in James Green’s “The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook,” and it seemed worth a try. Even though I have never made jello before, I took his recipe and adapted it.

Mathew and I were so amazed how easy it was to make jello. I decided not to use the official Jell-o brand jello since I was able find a healthier version in the local health food store. It has less additives and ingredients. Less is always better in my book. Moreover, I didn’t want anything unnecessary in the jello; remember the girl had a lot of food allergies.  I put the jello in a pan large enough that I could make each jello square equivalent to a half dose of goldenrod. This would allow for multiple doses throughout the day, if needed.

Goldenrod Herbal Jello recipe

1oz. goldenrod tincture

1 box of jello

2 cups boiling water

Mix all the ingredients together in a 6 x 8 rectangular glass dish. Put into your refrigerator until it sets, this may take a couple of hours. If you cut the jello into 1 inch squares, you should get 48 squares. Then cover and refrigerate them. I took a couple of squares out and left them uncovered in the refrigerator. I heard uncovered jello would get gummy – kind of like a gummy bear.

Mathew was again a great guinea pig and my chief taster. He decided that it didn’t taste bad but was able to detect a little goldenrod after-taste. He preferred the jello to the gummy jello. Unfortunately, the girl did not feel comfortable trying the goldenrod jello. We will never know if goldenrod would help her allergies. Nonetheless, it was a great exercise and I have another herbal tool available. I did discover that for myself, a goldenrod herbal jello square lasted longer than straight goldenrod tincture. Therefore, I needed less goldenrod throughout the day to solve my allergy problems. I suspect digestion played a critical role as it allowed the goldenrod to be released more slowly into my system.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.