Raspberry Jelly is a delicious Jell-O-like dessert made from fresh raspberries giving it an impactful flavor
Total Cooking Time: 3 hours
I had to make Raspberry Jelly as one of the many layers for the Showstopper challenge of my Great British Bake-Off Challenge: Week 5. This was the top layer of the trifle terrine and it proved to be the most challenging for me. I think I added too much water because the jelly had some trouble setting. So, given that I know what problems I had, I still wanted to share this Jelly recipe because it tasted delicious and with the right amount of liquid, it become a fantastic (part of a) dessert!
Ingredients
I was surprised to see there is only 4 ingredients in the jelly. There is gelatin, to have the jelly set, sugar for sweetness, water to make everything more viscous, and raspberries for that delicious flavor and color. Seems simple, right?
Process
01
Prepping the Ingredients
There is two parts to prepping the ingredients. One is blooming the gelatin (see more about this in the lessons section). I soaked the gelatin in water to allow it to bloom. It’s good to soak the gelatin in just enough water to make the gelatin powder wet. Too much water will cause the gelatin to drown and not give the best results (the issue that I ran into).
The second part for prepping the ingredients is dissolving the sugar. This step places water, sugar, and the raspberries into a pan and heats everything up to dissolve the sugar. This will also result in the raspberries turning into a pulp like state.
02
Creating the Jelly
Once the prepping is finished, it’s time to add the ingredients together. The gelatin should be mixed into the raspberry water after the raspberry water is removed from the heat. The gelatin should completely dissolve when whisked into the water. I didn’t see any remaining gelatin in the mixture after whisking for about a minute. The final jelly mixture is then strained. I didn’t want any raspberry seeds in my jelly. Jelly should be smooth!
Straining out the seeds will remove all the seeds and any chunky parts that might have tried to make their way into the mixture. I loved watching the clear, red liquid coming out of the other side of the strainer. Something about it felt really satisfying.
I let the jelly cool on the counter for a little bit before placing in the freezer to set. I don’t like causing a shock any of my dishes because I’m worried that going from almost boiling to frozen temperature will cause excessive wear and tear to the dishes.
Reflections
Like I said before, this didn’t go the best for me. That’s mainly because I drowned the gelatin in water, so it did not bloom properly. And because blooming the gelatin is a critical step for allowing the jelly to set, I can’t say that I’m surprised that it didn’t set. I wish I had taken more time making the raspberry jelly instead of trying to rush it because rushing this process caused such a huge error. But the jelly was delicious and something I would love to eat a lot of (if it didn’t have gelatin in it).
Lessons
Blooming the Gelatin
Why bloom gelatin? Well, there is multiple reasons. Gelatin that does not bloom is passed its shelf life. The granules of the gelatin enlarge when soaked in water and cause the bloom. This allows for the gelatin to dissolve into the dish and makes the resulting dish clear without have clumps of the granules.
Raspberry Jelly
Ingredients
- 2 Tsp Gelatin
- ½ Cup Granular Sugar
- 2 Cup Raspberries
Instructions
- Soak the gelatin in approximately 4 tbsp of cold water until it reaches a viscous consistency.
- Place sugar and raspberries into a pan with ¾ cup water and cook gently over low heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar has been dissolved and the raspberries become a pulp. Remove from heat
- Whisk gelatin into the hot raspberry mixture until dissolved.
- Strain, pushing down on the fruit through the sieve to create a smooth liquid. Discard seeds.
- Pour into a chilled tin and chill until set (approximately 3-4 hours in the fridge, 1-2 hours in the freezer).
- Enjoy!!
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