Wibble wobble…

…wibble wobble, jelly on a plate..!

Back in the heady, long, hot, sunny,  rainy, damp days of last Summer, hubby and BigSmall made a most excellent discovery.

Homemade jelly…!

All Small people seem to love jelly, and ours are no excpetion. One day BigSmall and I made rainbow jellies, from various different packets of jelly cubes, which was a big hit, if a bit of a faff.
But I have to say, I MUCH prefer this jelly-it tastes about a million times better than packet jelly, AND it has real fruit in it…

The recipe is adapted from a  great book called “Hungry?” from the lovely people who make Innocent Smoothies. It is packed full of easy, fun recipes for the family, making the most of fresh fruit and veg.

This is what you need:

• Half a mango-flesh only (The original recipe calls for strawberries, and this is what we had in the summner. I haven’ tried it so I can’t say for sure, but I’m sure this would work just as well with other soft fruits such as blueberries, raspberries or blackberries)
• juice of 6-8 big oranges (about 750ml juice)
• juice of 1 lemon, or lime-whatever is kicking about in the fruit bowl
• 100g caster sugar
• 7 small sheets of gelatine

This is what you do:

• Whizz the mango flesh in a food processor. Put the mix into a pan, add the orange and lemon juice and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat immediately, stir in the sugar until it has dissolved, then set aside to cool.
• Lay the gelatine sheets side by side in a big bowl of cold water and leave to stand for 5 mins.
• Now pour the warm juice through a sieve into a jug (The Smalls are quite fond of eating the remaining pulp..!). Remove the gelatine sheets from the water and add to the jug, stirring until fully dissolved.
• Pour the jelly mix into several individual bowls, or one big one, cover with an upturned plate or some clingfilm, then put into the fridge and leave to set for at least 4 hours.

I have to admit to being able to take absolutely no credit for this, having never once made it. I have a small gelatine phobia having had several gelatine based disasters, involving runny and lumpy deserts! Hubby has made this several times now though, so it can’t be that hard (no disresepct meant to hubby..!), and it is seriously good. Soooooo much nicer than packet jellies, much less sugar, and it even counts as 1 of your 5-a-day! You can feel yourself getting healthier as you eat it…

This is the strawberry and orange version from the Summer-the mango version got scoffed before I could take a pic..