2-Ingredient Mango Jelly!
Becca Crawford
Super easy to make. Super delicious. Super nutritious. No added sugars. Perfect summer dessert. Kids love it (big ones too!).
There are 2 things you need to know about making jelly:
1. Using a quality source of gelatin powder is important. Gelatin is what makes the mixture gel or congeal. (It’s naturally found in the bones of animals and hence what makes a good bone broth look like jelly and stand on a spoon!). In terms of ready-made gelatin powders, I recommend Bernard Jensen or Great Lakes in the red container. I used the latter in this recipe. Their beef gelatin powder is pure protein derived from the selective hydrolysis of collagen from the skin, connective tissue and/or bones of grass fed, free range beef cattle. This is the real deal. Just one ingredient: ground up collagen from pastured cows. No need to ever buy cheap processed imitation gelatin crap full of flavours, colours and preservatives from the supermarket again. Major brands will go unnamed.
2. Using the right amount of gelatin powder is important – and is a painstaking process of trial and error. Not adding enough makes a watery goo. Adding too much produces a hard rubbery texture that you could bounce a ball off (unless of course you’re after gummies or you could always simply say “Well, I intended to make gummies, of course”). My mate Monty tells me that the consistency of jelly is all about tongue action. And then proceeded to give me a 10 minute explanation of how the tongue needs to be able to break the jelly apart with the right amount of effortless force. Indeed. Fortunately my mango jelly passed his test. Relief! But if you feel that the consistency of the jelly using my recipe is not to your liking (if your tongue just aint happy), then simply experiment by increasing or decreasing the amount of gelatin powder used.
Ok, let’s do it!
Ingredients:
1 cup of mango flesh
1 tablespoon of 100% grass fed gelatin powder
Directions:
Puree the mango flesh with a hand held blender. I do this in a measuring cup to determine the correct volume of mango.
Place pureed mango plus gelatin powder into a small saucepan over medium heat and mix ingredients with hand held blender until gelatin is dissolved and the ingredients are mixed well (this will only take a few minutes). The mixture should be warm – do not allow to simmer or boil. Pour into small vessels or a glass rectangular container and refrigerate until set (this only takes a couple of hours).
To serve:
Top with additional sliced mango segments and, if desired, thick mud cream or creme fraiche.
Serves approx 4.
Variations:
For a creamier version (akin to panacotta), add 100ml of cream to the saucepan. Experiment with volume of cream to obtain your desired creaminess; and/or
Add cubes of mango (and/or well-ripened pear) into the vessels/container after pouring in the mixture.
Health benefits:
Beef gelatin:
* Promotes healthy skin & hair.
* Improves joint & bone health.
* Improves quality of sleep when taken in the evening.
* Enhances digestion by strengthening the intestinal lining.
Adding a quality protein or fat source to fruit also helps to slow down the release of the fructose naturally found in fruit, avoiding the sugar high then crash.
I’ll be writing a post in the future on the difference between the Green and the Red containers of Great Lakes gelatin powder as I am asked about this frequently.