Pink grapefruit has a unique flavour and this pink grapefruit jelly makes a sparky low fat dessert.
If the dearth of jellies featured on food blogs is any indication, few people get around to making home made jelly. Indeed, this was my first time. Gelatine something I have in the cupboards yet never use. Other ingredients that have met similar culinary graves in my stocks have been suet and rennet. All animal based – I am neither vegetarian nor squeamish about these ingredients’ origins – although I think this is just a coincidence.
Jelly evokes nostalgic memories in me. Making a jelly was one of the few tasks, apart from washing lettuce and spreading butter on bread, that my grandmother would entrust me with. Whilst she put the finishing touches to the roast dinner, I would boil the kettle before dissolving cubes of jelly in a jug of hot water.
Rowntrees’ jellies come in fairly predictable flavours; orange and raspberry are the easiest to buy. Last year I struggled to find lime green jelly until I went to a large supermarket. You certainly don’t see flavours beyond the obvious on sale in their squeezy plastic packets.
Which is a shame. For jellies can be flavoured with most fruits and I have never come across one for my favourite, under used fruit: the pink grapefruit. Some fruits such as pineapple or kiwi have an enzyme that prevents setting.
How to make pink grapefruit jelly
This pink grapefruit jelly did create some washing up – I used the juicing attachment on my food processor and strained the contents through sieves and a clean j-cloth. The gelatine mixed with 120ml boiling water doesn’t smell exactly but there’s something unpleasant – rather like socks being washing in hot water – about it. Fortunately once you mix it with the fruit juices this effect is gone.
My pink grapefruit jelly didn’t have a very firm set but it was definitely set. I hadn’t used too much liquid but possibly straining through the clean j-cloth filtered off some gelatine as well as surface froth. One gelatine sachet will set 1 litre of liquid. I had mislaid my muslin cloth in the kitchen refit – muslin has larger holes so presumably doesn’t trap the already thickened gelatine.
Nevertheless I ended up with four clear pink jellies in my new IKEA wine glasses that double up as dessert dishes.
Pink grapefruit jelly – homemade low fat dessert recipe
Ingredients
- 2 whole pink grapefruit
- 120 ml boiling water
- 1 sachet of powdered gelatine
- 200 g caster sugar
- <em> You will also need a muslin cloth or clean j-cloth a sieve and citrus juicer.</em>
Instructions
- Slice the grapefruit in half and press them in the citrus juicer to extract their juice.
- Boil the kettle and pour 120ml into a plastic jug. Empty over the sachet of gelatine and beat briskly with a whisk so it will dissolve fully without forming lumps. Whilst this liquid is still hot, stir in 100g of the caster sugar until this too dissolves.
- Pour the grapefruit juice through a sieve into a medium size bowl to filter off the pulp.
- Then pour over the gelatine solution and stir in the remaining 100g of caster sugar.
- Remove the pulp from the sieve then drape the insides with a muslin cloth or clean j-cloth. Pour the whole mixture through, squeezing the fabric into a ball if necessary. Squeeze as much liquid through as you can.
- Decant the pink liquid equally into glass dishes. There should be enough for 4-6 servings.
- Chill the jellies overnight in the fridge.
If you like these jellies then you’ll love my Pinterest board “Lovely Things in Jars”.
Follow Sarah Trivuncic Maison Cupcake’s board Lovely things in Jars on Pinterest.
Lovely! I’ve always been a big fan of jellies.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks – me too!
We had mandarin jelly as the dessert when we got married. I love grapefruit and according to Booths, the pink Florida ones are just coming in now. So I may well follow your lead!
It never occurred to me they were from Florida – I guess they probably are! Enjoy!
I just knew that this would be delightful as soon as I saw your tweet, as I adore pink grapefruit in all forms! It’s a wonderful recipe Sarah and I like you, am a BIG fan of the real home-made type of wibble wobble! Thanks for such a pretty and nostalgic entry to Tea Time Treats…..make mine a DOUBLE portion! Karen
LOL – are you sure Karen? There’s rather a lot of sugar in it. I am going to try a low sugar version using sweetener soon.
What a great idea to make your own jelly. I used to buy a supermarket own brand one for my daughter who loves it as it did have some fruit content to it, now I can only find the leading brand which has no fruit in it so I refuse to buy it! Think I’ll get my daugther to help me make some jelly now you’ve inspired me!
I was amazed how easy it was Camilla. The only snag is if you don’t want to use gelatine although I was conferring with Fuss Free Helen about it and she reckoned Agar Agar is a very reliable alternative. Cleaning the juicing attachment was a bit of a faff but the rest of it look no longer than making a packet jelly. Shocking to hear they don’t always have real fruit in them!!
I’ve made rhubarb jelly a few times but that seems to have been the end of my jelly making adventures which is a shame as it’s one of my favourite things to eat! I’m definitely going to have another go and this sounds like a great place to start.
Do! It was so easy!
Gorgeous colour!
I always make my own jellies from scratch but use leaf gelatine as it doesn’t have that smell you describe.
I had a bottle of orange juice I didn’t want to drink and set it with some gelatine and – just to be retro – added some mandarin segments. No added sugar and a heavenly dessert!
The colour of this is absolutely beautiful! I’ve never tried to make my own jelly before but you make it sound so achievable!
It was – I think a muslin cloth is preferable to my j-cloth method here as my jelly has lost some of its set in the fridge a couple of days later. It’s extremely wibbly wobbly now!
Suck a simple idea and such a pretty colour. I have never done homemade jelly with gelatine, but have made it with VegeGel – the vegetarian alternative. It set – oh yes it set… I think it set to squash ball consistency! Think there was some issue with converting sheets of gelatine accurately to vegeGel powder… but there you go, live and learn!
I’m going to try again with leaf gelatine and agar agar – so watch this space for more jellies!