A popular gardener shared a ‘fun way’ you can make use of overripe fruit to stop it from going to waste and advised you can use almost any fruit for this recipe apart from pineapple
A gardening fan shared a clever tip on how to use overripe fruit instead of throwing it away. It’s not uncommon for fruits like bananas, avocados, and stone fruits such as plums and peaches to turn brown and mushy as they mature, often leading people to throw them away.
However, Joseph Clark, a renowned gardening expert, revealed a simple method to transform overripe fruit into ‘gummies’. Clark, who boasts 1.6 million followers on TikTok, is well-known for his gardening tips, expert advice, hacks, and is the author of Garden To Save The World. In a recent TikTok video, he demonstrated a ‘fun way’ to prevent overripe fruit from going to waste, noting that almost any fruit can be used for this recipe, with the exception of pineapple.
Given his current abundance of fresh strawberries, Clark chose to use these for his demonstration. He began by removing the green tops from the strawberries before placing them in a blender.
He then added the juice of one whole lemon for approximately every pound (453.6 grams) of fruit, along with four tablespoons of organic honey for a touch of natural sweetness.
Finally, Clark added a “splash of water to help it all blend”. Following this, he advised giving the mixture a “really good blitz until it’s nice and smooth” before pouring it into a pan.
The gardening enthusiast then gently brings it to a boil, adding either gelatin or agar agar, a plant-based alternative.
He continues to heat the mixture for a few more minutes until it has fully dissolved. His next step is to pipe the hot mixture into silicone moulds or old ice cube trays.
After about an hour of chilling in the fridge, you’ll have some “delicious, natural fruit gummies which as they store will concentrate the flavour, making them even more tasty”.
In his TikTok post caption, he revealed that creating a batch of 100 gummies takes him about 10 minutes.
He used agar agar as a setting agent, which he found “amazing”, noting it “sets much faster than gelatine” and is ready after roughly 20 minutes in the fridge, whereas gelatine “can take an hour or two”.
He further added: “Now I’m always being asked what I do with my harvests from the garden, and the simple answer is I usually give them away, but sometimes I like to play about with zero waste recipes, and these gummies are one of my favourites.
“Making these gummies is so easy, and it’s a brilliant way to use up old fruit, as that’s when its flavour is at its most powerful.”
Clark recommends the treats, saying: “They are [a] great snack, and if you have children they work great in lunchboxes too.”
The recipe has been praised by viewers in the comments section of the video, with users calling it as a “great idea”, saying it “looks good”, and describing the result as “yummy”.
