Homemade Jelly - This is not a Misprint

It has been mentioned that I really ought to balance out all those mains with some desserts, so here we go.

This comes courtesy of Gran in Wanganui. There's a lot to be said for paring things back to how they used to be done, before we had all these convenience products on the shelf. For a start, making jelly from scratch, you know exactly what's going into your dessert, and there are no artificial colours or flavours to be seen. On the downside, this is a bit time-consuming and by far more work than just pouring boiling water into a bowl of jelly crystals, but the results are fantastic.

This post introduces Freshly Ground's Dessert Chef extraodinaire, who shall hereafter be known as C. In case you haven't guessed already, I'm not really a dessert kind of guy. But I did read a recipe for some yummy pear tarts just recently, and they might make it here yet. Watch this space.

Lemon Jelly

Ingredients (4 Servings):
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 T Gelatine
2 Cups Cold Water
2 Lemons
1 Mandarin

Stir the sugar and gelatine in a saucepan. Add cold water, stir again and leave to stand while you peel the skin from the lemons and mandarin with a potato peeler, being careful not to peel off the white pith. Drop the peel into the gelatine mixture, then heat until it comes to the boil and the gelatine dissolves. Remove form the heat. Squeeze the fruit, which should yield 1/4 to 1/2 Cup of juice. Add this to the pot, along with any pulp and seeds, stir well, then pour the jelly through a fine sieve into the dish in which it will set. Allow to cool before placing in the fridge to set.
We had this, and I have to say it was the best jelly I've ever tasted. And I like jelly. Based on this, you can make so many variations. Raspberries will be on the menu when they're in season.