Make jelly for yourself not the kids!
When I was little, I loved nothing more than chewing on jelly cubes usually red and made by Rowntree – what a treat.
As I got older, I rarely ate jelly. It was only when Marks & Spencer introduced their pots of raspberry jelly and again I was hooked. Now, a fruity homemade jelly is hard to beat. If you need an excuse, do make it for your children or grandchildren.
Bompas and Parr have took jelly making to the extreme. They create all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes and flavours. Their book inspired me to try making my own jelly. Yes, I could buy jelly cubes, but I wanted something fresh and fruity and natural. It really is surprisingly easy to make.
There’s nothing like cutting into a jelly with that satisfying squelch and enjoying the cool burst of flavour.
And if you want an excuse, why not make some for Hallowe’en and add some scary items in and on top of the jelly. Haribo type sweets work very well in the mixture. This is your chance to seek out jelly moulds – Ikea do some good ones, or even go down the vintage route.
Insipired? This recipe is very fruity, with a nice touch of sharpness. It’s well worth making the effort!
Jelly Recipes
Equipment
- Jelly moulds glass or plastic
Ingredients
Sugar Syrup
- 100 grams sugar caster or granulated
- 100 millilitres water
Orange Jelly
- 300 millilitres Orange juice (approximately 4 large oranges)
- 100 millilitres sugar syrup
- 1 lemon juiced
- 7 grams Leaf gelatin approx 5 sheets
Blackcurrant Jelly
- 150 millilitres blackcurrant syrup or cordial Belvoir make a lovely blueberry and blackcurrant cordial
- 350 millilitres water
- 7 grams Leaf gelatin approx 5 sheets
Instructions
Sugar Syrup
- Place the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Set aside until needed.
Orange Jelly
- Cut the leaves of gelatin up into 2 cm strips. Place in 2 tablespoons of the water to let it soften.
- Put the orange juice, lemon juice, sugar syrup in a jug. Top up to 500 ml with water.
- Bring about 100 ml of the juice mixture to the boil. Add the gelatin and stir to dissolve. When it has dissolved pour the rest of the juice mixture in and stir. When it has cooled pour into a mould using a sieve to capture any bits.
- Once cool place in the fridge to set (this will depend on how cold your fridge is. I'd allow 3 hours minimum)
Blackcurrant Jelly
- This is made in the same way as the orange jelly. Mix the cordial and water together in a bowl, then follow instructions above. Leave the jelly mixture out of the fridge until the orange jelly has set. Pour on top of the orange jelly when the first has set and return to the fridge.
- Leave the jelly mixture out of the fridge until the orange jelly has set. Pour on top of the orange jelly when the first has set and return to the fridge.
Serving
- To demould, pop the jelly mould into a larger container filled with warm water. Leave no more than 30 seconds and turn out. For Hallowe'en you can pop in scary sweets or add some on top, it's up to you!
Dietary Requirements
Use Vege-gel or agar agar if you are making this for a vegetarian but follow the instructions on the pack as it does differ to leaf gelatin.
So pleased to hear that! Jelly is just magical isn’t it!
I’m with you! Let’s reclaim jelly. I’ve just made my first few from scratch and am enjoying all the new flavour ideas that people have blogged about. No more packets of jelly crystals for me!