You can add almost any fruit to jelly for a colorful, delicious dessert. First you have to wash the fresh fruits, cut them and then place them in layers in the bowl or pudding pan. Then mix the jelly or jelly powder with water or try making your own jelly from vegan gelatine instead. Then pour the gelatin mixture over the fruit and place the dessert in the refrigerator for about two hours. As soon as the jello is set, you can remove it from the bowl or mold and enjoy!
ingredients
Fruit selection
- 230 g green grapes
- 230 g red grapes
- 230 g strawberries
- 115 g raspberries
- Other fruit of your choice, e.g. bananas, pears or canned pineapple
Purchased jelly powder
- 85 g gelatin powder of the brand of your choice
- 240 ml of boiling water
- 240 ml of cold water
Vegan jelly
- 1.5 tbsp agar-agar flakes
- 240 ml red grape juice or green apple juice
- 240 ml of water
- 60 g white sugar
- A few drops of green food coloring (optional)
method
Method 1 of 4: Prepare jelly with gelatin powder you bought
Step 1. Put 85 g gelatin powder in a bowl
Use the entire contents of an 85 g pack of gelatin powder in the flavor of your choice. Dr. Oetker® is a brand that offers instant jelly, but you can also use any other brand from your local supermarket.
Step 2. Add 240 ml of boiling water and stir until the powder dissolves
Bring 240 ml of water to a boil and pour it into your bowl with the gelatin powder. Stir until the powder is completely dissolved. This should take about two minutes.
Use a fork, whisk, or spatula to stir the powder
Step 3. Add 240 ml of cold water to the mixture and stir it in for a few seconds
The cold water ensures that the gelatin is at the right temperature and is further diluted. If you use canned fruit in your dessert, you can use canned juice instead of cold water.
Since the gelatin powder has already dissolved in the water, you only need to stir briefly
Method 2 of 4: Select the fruits and layer them
Step 1. Choose three to four types of fruit for your jelly
Your jelly will look beautiful if you choose fruits in different colors. For example, you can create a layer of chopped strawberries, a layer of green grapes, a layer of raspberries, and a layer of red grapes. For a splash of yellow color, you can also cut a banana into slices or add some canned pineapple as a special treat.
- If you use gelatin powder without flavor, you don't have to consider anything else when making your choice. With flavored jelly (e.g. mango), however, you should carefully consider which fruits go well with the respective taste.
- This recipe is very straightforward, but in general you should add around 900 g of fruit to 85 g of gelatin powder.
Step 2. Avoid fresh pineapple, kiwi, mango, root ginger, papaya, figs, and guavas
These fruits react with the gelatin in a way that prevents your jelly from setting. You'd end up with a very mushy dessert. However, this problem does not occur with canned pineapples.
- Here's an interesting fact: the fruits mentioned above contain peptidases. These are enzymes that prevent the proteins in the gelatin from setting.
- If you are using canned fruit, pour off the juice but keep it. You can use it for your jelly.
Step 3. Wash the fruits and cut them into small pieces
Rinse the fruit thoroughly under cold water in a kitchen strainer. Then use a knife to cut them into small, bite-sized pieces on a kitchen board. Grapes look even prettier when halved. For strawberries, remove the green part and cut them in half or quarter. Cut the bananas into slices.
You don't need to cut raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Just add them to your jelly like that
Step 4. Layer the fruit in a bowl or pudding pan
Start building a layer with each type of fruit. If you're using 230g of strawberries, place them in one layer in your pan. Put a layer of your next fruit on top and continue in this way until you have used all of your fruit. Distributing the fruits in individual layers ensures that your finished jelly looks really nice.
- Make sure that you don't use a bowl that bulges inwards at the edge, otherwise you won't get the jelly out if you turn it over.
- The width of the peel determines how thick the fruit layers are. If you like, use a tall, narrow bowl for thick layers and a wide, flat bowl for thin layers.
- Don't worry if the fruit doesn't fill the entire bowl. The jelly will fill in all the spaces.
Method 3 of 4: Make your own vegan jelly
Step 1. Make your own vegan jelly if you are vegan or vegetarian
Common gelatin is made from the connective tissue of cows or pigs. Therefore, if you are vegan or vegetarian, you should use your own gelatin substitute. You can prepare your jelly with agar-agar, a gelatin-like substance made from algae.
You can buy agar-agar flakes over the internet or from health food stores
Step 2. Place agar agar, fruit juice, water, and sugar in a saucepan on your stove
For red jelly, take one and a half tablespoons of agar-agar flakes, 240 ml red grape juice and 240 ml water, as well as 60 g white sugar. For green jelly, use one and a half tablespoons of agar-agar flakes, 240 ml of green apple juice, 240 ml of water, and 60 g of white sugar.
In order for the mixture to boil as quickly as possible, you should select the highest heat setting
Step 3. Cook the mixture for two minutes, stirring occasionally
Bring the mixture to a boil and set your kitchen timer for two minutes once it boils. After two minutes, take the pot off the stove.
- If you're making green jelly, you can now add a few drops of green food coloring.
- You don't need food coloring for red jelly.
Method 4 of 4: Pour the jelly into the mold and chill
Step 1. Pour the liquid jelly over the fruit
Cover the fruit entirely with your mixture. Shake the mold of your choice a little so that the jelly spreads all the way down and also coats the fruit on the bottom.
This works for both the regular and vegan versions
Step 2. Place the jelly in the refrigerator for an hour and a half
The cold ensures that your jelly becomes firm. If it's not quite firm after an hour and a half, you should refrigerate it for another hour.
If the jelly is still too runny after two and a half hours, it means something went wrong. You could start over or make sure your refrigerator is cooling enough
Step 3. Place a plate on the pan and quickly turn it over
Your jelly should simply slide onto the plate. If not, put your shape in a shallow container with hot water. The hot water melts the jelly a little. As soon as you see this, take out the mold and turn the jelly out onto a plate as you did before. It should now just slide out of shape.
The colorful layers of fruit should shine through the semi-transparent jelly. If you can't see them that well, you'll be able to admire them after you cut them
Step 4. Chill your dessert until you are ready to serve
If you like, you can now eat the jelly. But if you don't want to serve them until later, put them in the fridge until then. To make sure it doesn't dry out, keep it in a sealable container or cover it with plastic wrap. Jelly with fruits is wonderfully suitable for summer picnics, holidays, parties or simply as a delicious dessert.
- After preparation, the jelly will keep in the refrigerator for seven to ten days.
- Do not put the jelly in the freezer as it will only be a mushy mush after defrosting.
- If you want to eat your jelly with fruit, cut it into pieces with a sharp knife like a cake.
