Monday 13 June 2011

Fresh Summer Fruit and Wine Jellies


These beautiful summer fruit and wine jellies are very easy to make.

I made some as a display piece for the second day of the Ideal Home Show in Glasgow at the SECC. They attracted loads of attention !


I think they look even prettier when sliced so you can see a cross section of all the fruits.

 I made lots and lots of them the following day so we could actually slice some up to let people try.. Thankfully, I remembered to take some photos before the jellies went to the show and promised I would put the recipe on the blog on my return.

They were made in this mould - our 6 pink hearts silicone bakeware mould.


This makes a really light and refreshing dessert - perfect on a hot summer day or to cleanse the palate. They are sharp and not very sweet. It tastes like eating wine, but is offset with the sweetness from the fruit.

Better still, they are very very quick and simple to make.

Recipe

600ml of white wine -choose your favourite to compliment fruit
I think the one we used was a chardonnay ..
4 sachets of unflavoured gelatine 
Juice of 1/2 a lime
75g of caster sugar
Selection of summer fruits

Take your 6 pink hearts mould and lightly oil the inside of each cell and then place it on top of a baking tray
I used groundnut oil as it is flavourless. If you do not have groundnut, use sunflower or vegetable. The baking tray makes it easy to get your jellies in and out of the fridge later !

Pour the gelatine granules into a bowl and cover with 1/2 the wine. Leave these for approx 10 minutes. This is  called "sponging".

Whilst the gelatine is sponging, prepare your fruit. You want small strawberries. If yours are large, they will need slicing. I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.



Pour the rest of the wine, lime juice and sugar into a pan. Bring these to a simmer and then add the sponged gelatine mix. Stir these over a low heat until the gelatine and sugar has all dissolved and the liquid is clear.

Spoon off any scum / bubbles from the top of the liquid. Put a couple of teaspoons of this liquid into each cell.

Arrange some berries into the bottom of each cell. Remember that the bottom will become the top, so put the pretties whole berries on the bottom. After you have done that, fill the rest of each cell to about 2mm from the top with fresh berries.

When the remaining gelatine and wine liquid has cooled down, pour this into the moulds. It will fill up all the space between the jellies. Try to cover all the fruit. If any fruit is sticking up, give it a poke to below the surface.


Refrigerate for at least SIX hours - preferably TWELVE

The jellies should have set in much less time than this. However, they need much longer for the full flavour to develop. I released my first jellies from the moulds about 3 hours later but they tasted very astringent - almost mouth puckering ! Left a good while longer, they mature as the juices from the berries infuse with the wine.

To release from the moulds, simply put a finger on top of the jelly and it will simply peel away from the sides. 

Do this right round the top of each cell and then simply turn them out on to a plate.

Sarah-Jane Nash, 13th June 11.  www.siliconemoulds.com  - silicone bakeware & cookware online shop.

11 comments:

  1. Sarah, this is so pretty and healthy too! Love the color :))

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  2. Very nice! I will definitely try this one!

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  3. So pretty!. I love fruits in jellies. It makes them really festive and special :)

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  4. Sarah, these are absolutely beautiful! I can't wait to try them and hope they turn out as beautiful as yours!!!

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  5. Great color, those are so pretty! What a great thing for a summer get together!

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  6. Those are amazing. I was taken from the first heart, not even looking at the sliced ones. I can't wait to give them a try. Many thanks.

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  7. Ann - Thanks. I got my inspiration from you ... the queen of all jellies ! I only started experimenting with jelly a week or two ago and now look forward to making many more.

    For everyone else - thank you for your comments. I've actually been quite scared of jellies until now, but honestly - this is the most simple and easiest thing I have ever made ..... It's so so easy.

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  8. Sarah...I have your pink hearts mold :)) I am going to make jelly with it too. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    Glad you had a great show at Glasgow :)
    Elin

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  9. These are adorable and a great way to use summer fruit and left over wine. Have you ever tried agar-agar? It is a vegetarian jelly that can set even at room temperature and much faster than animal gelatin. I do like how when sliced you can see the fruits, looks yummy.

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  10. Nancy - I've got some agar agar here which Nancy kindly sent to me. I have not tried it yet. I had the idea for this jelly when I was up in Scotland at the show and did not have the agar agar with me.

    However, I do have something in mind for the agar agar. Still to decide how to flavour it though and make different colours. Perhaps agar agar jellies next week...

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  11. Wow! Gorgeous jellies, terribly chic. x

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