We all loved sweets in childhood. Not a single holiday is complete without them, and tea drinking without sweets is completely boring. Chewing candies stand out on their list. This is a great dessert that will appeal to an adult and a child, and many believe that it is such sweets that are the least harmful to the waist and the whole body. However, there are many nuances in which you need to be able to understand. Chewing sweets can contain a large number of dyes and flavors.
Useful properties of sweets
Let's first talk about what delicious sweets can give your body. For the most part, it contains one sugar, pure glucose, from which the body can receive energy. However, good gummies may include various beneficial excipients. This fruit juices and berries, and nuts and seeds. That is, these are sources of minerals and vitamins, fiber and other useful substances.
Thus, moderate consumption of sweets made from natural ingredients will only benefit you. But the question is: do all chewing sweets fit this description? Let's look at the most popular brands that are on the shelves of our stores and pharmacies.
"Supradin" - chewing sweets
If we talk about what will really benefit you, then these are primarily vitamins for children. This form is a standard set of vitamins and minerals needed by your baby's body, which are enclosed in a gelatin shell. Glucose syrup, sugar and other components are used as sweeteners. However, despite the obvious benefits of these food supplements, a doctor should prescribe them as needed.
Mamba candies
Bright, tasty and very much loved by children sweets. Many people remember them from the time of their own childhood, and today they delight them with their own kids. Is it necessary to accustom the crumbs to such delicacies? Most probably not. "Mamba" is a chewing candy, which is made on the basis of gelatin, which means animal fats. It is difficult to say how useful these refractory fats are for the child's body. But that's not all. In order to make gelatin sweet, it is saturated with sugar syrup. The abundance of carbohydrates, or rather, simple sugar, is the so-called scourge of modern society, so the later you teach your child to such products, the better. And finally, the last moment: these sweets are crammed with dyes and flavors to make them pink and green, smelling delicious. Just these substances are extremely harmful to humans, and especially to a growing organism.
What you need to pay attention to in the composition
When buying chewing sweets (the photo shows us an abundance of bright pillows, bears and other attractive shapes and colors), first of all pay attention to the composition. In fact, it is usually identical. These sweets differ slightly, just some are made using natural fruit juices, contain vitamins and minerals, as well as pectin or agar-agar (extract from algae), while others are based on gelatin and artificial colors. The latter usually attract the attention of children with their bright colors, although their unnaturalness should alert.
Are all E's harmful?
We will continue the discussion on how to recognize chewing sweets. The composition may include the mysterious "E", which are already so overgrown with legends that are considered a priori harmful. In fact, the natural dye curcumin or chlorophyll (E 140) may be hidden under the mask “E”. They usually do not give too intense coloring, and therefore you can already determine in appearance whether you can give them to children.
Gummies
Often women who are passionate about losing weight tend to choose them, when it is already completely impossible to do without sweets. And this is correct, especially if the sweets are made on the basis of agar-agar, and fructose is used as a sweetener. It turns out a low-calorie, but quite tasty dessert. On average, they are 350 kcal per 100 g of product. For comparison: chocolate glaze contains about twice as many calories.
Toffee can also be attributed to chewing sweets, however, they include fat, condensed milk, molasses, which means their caloric value will be much higher.
Homemade Gummies
In fact, such sweets can be very easily prepared at home yourself. Depending on your preference, you can choose any components. For example, it can be a mixture of fruit and vegetable juice (apple and carrot), gelling components, as well as nuts. You can experiment and include condensed milk, then your sweets will have a rich creamy taste.
You should think carefully about which gelling component you will use. Agar agar gives the most dense structure, in addition, this extract from algae has no extraneous taste and practically does not contain calories. Pectin is also a vegetable gelling component, which is obtained from apples, and its calorific value is higher. Finally, the familiar gelatin gives the consistency of jelly, which is difficult to make into sweets (it has a high calorie content and has a specific aftertaste, since it is made on the basis of extracts from cartilage).
In addition, you will need a form in which you will fill the finished mixture. We proceed to the cooking process. You will need to heat the base (water with sugar, juice, milk) and melt the gelling component in it. Without bringing to a boil, the mixture must be removed from the heat and cool a little. Fill in the form everything that you want to see in the role of the filling, and fill it with the resulting syrup. Leave the mold for several hours to set completely. After that, sweets can be sprinkled with powdered sugar. Such sweets definitely do not contain anything harmful - they can treat children as often as you want. But with bright storey chewing toffees, be careful. Buy only products from trusted manufacturers and carefully study the composition. And it’s better to buy more fruits than sweets home - this is also very tasty and healthy.