Orange Jelly Boats
I wouldn’t want you to think that Mum’s recipes weren’t whimsical and fun, she loved making food for children and jellies of all descriptions were a Marion staple. She was particularly fond of making jelly boats, by setting orange jelly inside orange peel and decorating them with rice paper ‘sails’. This recipe is loved by both adults and children and a core childhood food memory of mine, as they were at the centre of so many of our birthday parties as kids. They are still a little magical and make me smile, making these bought back lots of happy memories.
This particular recipe was found on an unidentified sheet of paper in her recipe file. There is the slightly fiddly job of prepping the oranges, I found the combined use of a grapefruit knife and a melon baller helped me best to scoop out all the pith, but it did require some patience and Mum would probably know a trick to speed the process up, if I could do ask her. Nonetheless I hope the finished version does her justice.
ingredients
makes 12 orange halves/ or 24 orange jelly boats (orange quarters)
1 pint (570ml) fresh orange juice
reserve the orange halves for the boats
4 gelatine leaves
a little sugar (optional)
edible rice paper and cocktail sticks, to decorate
method
Juice freshly squeezed orange juice, enough to make 1 pint of juice. Reserve the orange halves, for the jelly boats. I add 1/2 tablespoon of golden sugar to the juice to add extra sweetness, this is optional. Scoop out the remaining fruit from the orange halves, so that you have empty orange shells, add 12 empty orange halves to a muffin tin so they are secure and ready for the jelly.
Use gelatine leaf, or you can use a vege-gel alternative, and follow the packet instructions for the quantities. For gelatine leaf you simply soak the leaves in warm water for 5 mins, squeeze out the water and add the leaves (x4) to 1 pint (570ml) liquid. In a saucepan warm the orange juice to blood temperature, don’t boil or the gelatine won’t set. All the gelatine should be dissolved, strain it through a sieve to triple check.
Pour the jelly mix into the prepped orange halves, place the whole muffin tin with oranges into the fridge for 4 hours at least to set, or overnight. To serve cut the orange halves into quarters. Take a cocktail stick and pin on a triangle of edible rice paper for a sail. Serve straight away.
allergens
if using gelatine (gelatine contains meat)