Wobbly facts and delicious recipes

Provided by Sam Bompas of Bompas and Parr LLP

You are never too old to enjoy jelly. Half the fun lies in the spectacle: a gently wobbling pudding makes any table more exciting. Do as the Victorians did and put jellies down the centre of the table to enjoy the sight of them wobbling away throughout the meal

Wobbly Jelly Facts

Jelly was first eaten by the Egyptians
The gelling agent used in most jellies is gelatin, and is sourced from animals. Before leaf gelatine was invented shaved hart’s (young deer’s) horns and the swim bladders of fish called sturgeon were used to make jelly.
Jelly used to be a food that only the rich could afford. It was hard work to make, exotic fruit was expensive and there were no refrigerators.
The Victorians were experts at making complicated jelly moulds. A shape for the jelly was of a British lion sitting on a plinth.
In the past savoury jellies were just as popular as sweet jellies. At Bompas & Parr we’ve even made zebra and crocodile jelly.
Some fruits like pineapple won’t set as jellies as they contain enzymes that break down the protein bonds. Others like blackberry and strawberry make wonderful jellies.
Gelatin the main gelling agent for jelly was used as a blood plasma substitute during World War II.
In 1997 the Army’s Logistics Corp helped to make the world’s biggest jelly at Blackpool Zoo. The jelly was almost one metre tall by seven metres wide and took about 12 hours to set with a blast chiller.
If you eat too much jelly it can be a mild laxative!
On March 17, 1993, technicians at St. Jerome hospital in Batavia tested a bowl of lime jelly with an EEG machine and confirmed the earlier testing by Dr. Adrian Upton that a bowl of wobbling jelly has brain waves identical to those of adult men and women.
Jelly doesn’t wobble underwater.

Jelly Recipes

Here are some recipes if you want to try making jellies from scratch:

Raspberry Jelly (500ml) serves 4

400g raspberries
2 tbps caster sugar
6 leaves gelatin (or as directed by packet)

Place your raspberries and sugar in a heat proof bowl and cling film over the top. Rest over a bowl of gently simmering water for half an hour. Once the juice has appeared let it drip through a jelly bag or a colander lined with a clean tea towel. Ideally you will have the patience to let it drip overnight - if you don't you can encourage it with a few strokes of the spoon.

When you have obtained your juice add cold water until you have 500ml of liquid. Now cut up the leaf gelatin (use up to double the amount the packet suggests as you are going to un-mould it) into a few pieces and place in a heat proof bowl with a dash of the raspberry liquor. After 10 minutes melt the gelatin over simmering water and mix thoroughly with the remaining juice. Now pour, via a sieve into your mould. Now wait - maybe two or three days. For every day your jelly is in the fridge it will grow structurally stronger. When anticipation gets the better of you, polish your best plate and un-mould the jelly by briefly immersing in a bowl of hot water. Do not eat before you have allowed time to contemplate its beauty.

Elderflower and wild strawberries (500ml)

Elderflower cordial
200g wild strawberries
6 leaves gelatin (or as directed by packet)

Make up your cordial with water to 500ml and then set about softening your gelatin as above. Meanwhile hull and wash your strawberries and set aside. Fill the mould and place the jelly in the fridge: after about two hours you should be ready to push the strawberries into the jelly. If you try to place the strawberries in straight away they will merely float - the desired look is a crystal clear gel with the strawberries evenly distributed.

Courvoisier and Blackcurrant Jelly (500ml)

150ml Courvoisier VSOP Exclusif
Blackcurrant cordial
6 leaves gelatin (or as directed by packet)

PIxley Berries® make a fantastic blackcurrant cordial (available from Waitrose) that has a real depth of flavour. It's just what you need to cut through the richness of the Courvoisier. Make up the cordial to 500ml omitting 150ml of the water for the Courvoisier. Alcohol actually strengthens the gel until it reaches between 30 - 50% of the total volume. So once you have added your gelatin you can rest assured that this will turn out to wobble beautifully rather than ending up as a puddle on a plate.

Further details from:

Dee Rawsthorne
Outreach Coordinator
Norwich BioScience Institutes
Norwich Research Park, Colney
Norwich. NR4 7UA
Tel: 01603 251457
Email: dee.rawsthorne@bbsrc.ac.uk

We gratefully acknowledge the support of Premier Foods, who supplied the Jelly.