Fruit jelly can replace candies, cakes, cookies, pastries, and ice cream in the diets of both children and adults. This homemade natural product not only contains “set vitamins” from fresh fruits and berries but also collagen, providing double benefits for the body. This festive-looking dish promotes healthier nails, hair, joints, and bones. If you substitute gelatin with natural gelling agents like pectin or agar-agar (which are found in plant cell walls and seaweed), it not only benefits bone and cartilage tissue but also aids in the elimination of waste, toxins, and heavy metal salts from the body.
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, or papayas should be avoided because the enzymes in these fruits break down the collagen found in gelatin, agar-agar, and pectin, which may prevent the jelly from setting properly.
Ingredients: 500 ml of water; 2 tablespoons of gelatin; 100 g of sugar; ½ 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 due to oxidation, sprinkle it with lemon juice or immediately toss it into the syrup after cutting.
To prepare the syrup, pour ½ liter of water into a small saucepan and place it on the heat. Once the water boils, add the sugar, stir, and reduce the heat.
In the boiling syrup, add the apple and pear for two minutes—they should be blanched but not overcooked. 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 half an hour. After it swells, place it over low heat. Once the gelatin is completely dissolved, strain it, pour it into the syrup, and mix well.
In glass dessert cups, bowls, or molds, layer the fruits and berries, pouring the prepared jelly mixture over them. Top each cup with a mint leaf.
Refrigerate the jelly overnight to set (if placed in the freezer, it will crystallize). The dessert can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.
When serving, decorate the dessert with berries, nuts, grated chocolate, or whipped cream. Crushed cookies can only be sprinkled on the jelly after it has set; otherwise, the decoration will become soggy.
Life Hack
You can invert the fruit and berry jelly from the mold onto a plate, serving it as a cake or pastry. This dessert, like the one served in cups, can have multiple layers. To prepare such a fruit and berry jelly, pour only part of the gelatin syrup into the molds and place them in the refrigerator to set. Once the jelly reaches a “jiggly” consistency, add the next layer of fruits or berries, pour in more syrup, and return it to the refrigerator to set again.