Gaby
Fruit jelly can replace candies, cakes, cookies, pastries, and ice cream in the diets of both children and adults. This homemade dessert delivers vitamins from fresh fruits and berries and, when made with gelatin, also supplies collagen — two benefits in one. Its festive look also makes it a good way to support healthier nails, hair, joints, and bones. If you swap gelatin for natural gelling agents like pectin or agar-agar (found in plant cell walls and seaweed), it may benefit bone and cartilage tissue and help the body eliminate waste, toxins, and heavy metal salts.
For making jelly, any local seasonal berries and fruits will do: raspberries, strawberries, grapes, cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, apples, and pears. However, fresh exotic fruits are not recommended as ingredients for jelly. Pineapple, figs, mangoes, kiwis, guavas, and papayas contain enzymes that break down gelatin’s proteins, which can prevent gelatin-based jellies from setting properly. If you use agar-agar or pectin instead of gelatin, those enzymes won’t affect the gelling.
Ingredients: 500 ml of water; 2 tablespoons of gelatin; 100 g of sugar; 1/2 cup of pitted cherries; 1 apple; 1 pear; 2 sprigs of mint.
Peel the fruits and cut them into small cubes, thin slices, or strips. To prevent the apple from browning from oxidation, sprinkle it with lemon juice or drop it immediately into the syrup after cutting.
To prepare the syrup, pour 1/2 liter of water into a small saucepan and place it over medium heat. Once the water boils, add the sugar, stir, and reduce the heat.
Add the apple and pear to the simmering syrup and blanch them for two minutes — do not overcook. Remove them with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a plate. Pour the syrup into a bowl and let it cool.
Soak the gelatin in a cup of cold boiled water. Stir and let it swell for 30 minutes. Warm it over low heat until completely dissolved, strain it, then pour it into the cooled syrup and mix well.
In glass dessert cups, bowls, or molds, layer the fruits and berries and pour the prepared jelly mixture over them. Top each cup with a mint leaf.
Refrigerate the jelly overnight to set (do not freeze, or it will crystallize). Store the dessert in the refrigerator for up to three days.
When serving, decorate the dessert with berries, nuts, grated chocolate, or whipped cream. Sprinkle crushed cookies on the jelly only after it has set; otherwise the topping will become soggy.
Life Hack
Invert the jelly from the mold onto a plate to serve it like a cake or pastry. This dessert, like the one served in cups, can have multiple layers. To make layered jelly, pour only part of the gelatin syrup into the molds and refrigerate until it begins to set but is still jiggly. Add the next layer of fruits or berries, pour in more syrup, and return the molds to the refrigerator to set again.
