Pomegranate & Blood Orange Fruit Jellies
Colour is a great source of inspiration, isn’t it? Sometimes just one gorgeous, vibrant hue can trigger a whole chain of ideas and creations. These beautiful red dahlias, the last of this year’s blooms from our village allotments, made me see red – in a good way! I started to think about those lovely, jewel-like [...]
Colour is a great source of inspiration, isn’t it? Sometimes just one gorgeous, vibrant hue can trigger a whole chain of ideas and creations. These beautiful red dahlias, the last of this year’s blooms from our village allotments, made me see red – in a good way! I started to think about those lovely, jewel-like sweeties known as Pates de Fruits in France. With colour in mind, I thought I would try to make some with the crimson juices of pomegranates and blood oranges.
I have a project in mind for these fruit jellies. We have a little Christmas/holiday fair coming up in the village hall next month, and I was asked to run a table. I decided that I would make some gifts and sweets to sell on my stall, and donate profits to Action Against Hunger. This organisation is committed to helping people around the world who don’t have enough to feed themselves and their children. I know that lots of people who work in the food industry give a lot, in donations as well as running fundraising projects, to help this cause and I am keen to give too.
So I have been thinking about what I might make to wrap into pretty packages and sell on my stall. I have never made fruit jelly sweeties before, and some practice seemed essential. I must say, it isn’t really as easy as it might seem to get these right. The differences in juices, concentration of fruit purees, the type of pectin, the time of cooking, all affect the result. And in jolly damp old England, the humidity is a factor too. The recipe below worked quite well for me. I made a version with mango puree and jam sugar (sugar with crystallised pectic mixed in) instead of the liquid pectin and that set very nicely too.
What do you think of my plans? Do you have any other ideas for lovely food gifts, sweet or savoury, that might go well on my stall? I plan on testing out some other ideas over the next couple of weeks, for example nougat, flavoured sugars and vin chaud spices. I’d love to hear your ideas for gifts, wrappings, ribbons, presentation – and I’ll share my experiments too.
Thanks for visiting Extra-Relish. Please do write me a comment – I really enjoy hearing from you. Px
Charlie: 22nd October 2010
Hi Pascale
What a great cause – and lucky customers at your stall. These look beautiful and I’m sure they taste delicious. And how I crave those stunning dahlias. I have plans to plant some next year..
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Thanks Charlie. You might have seen some of those dahlias before, remember the rough and ready bouquet I brought…! xxx
Margaret: 22nd October 2010
I love the way you use colour in your food photography. The dahlias are spectacular and the fruit jellies enticing.
Seasonal nutty creations might be good for your charity stall – chestnuts, almonds, pecans, etc – maybe dried fruit too.
Natalie: 22nd October 2010
The red in the dahlia is exquisite. The fruit jellies are just the ticket for Xmas. Maybe santa will deliver some to me.
Once again a fabulous blog. Natalie
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Hello Margaret and Natalie, thanks for the visit and comments. I agree, something with nuts would be great on my stall, as long as I don’t eat them all myself!
laruanne: 22nd October 2010
Yum – these look delicious & I love the Dahlias (my favorite flower). The Dahlia garden in Golden Gate Park is insane. You could offer some dark chocolate salted caramels too
….sweet, salty & chocolatey!
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Lauranne, that’s a great idea. I love salted caramels too. Wish you could come and join me running the stall – that would be so much fun. Love Px
Kocinera: 22nd October 2010
Those little jellies look so yummy! I love the bright colors, too. For your stall, they’d look extra cute in some fun shapes, like hearts or stars.
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Yes, lovely idea. I tried some in some silicone star molds and they did look great. Thanks for visiting and the comment.
Blandine: 22nd October 2010
I love pate de fruit! Beautiful colours!
Clairetweet: 22nd October 2010
These are adorable!
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Thanks Claire! By the way, I LOVE your new blog/site.
cathi: 22nd October 2010
Your photos are fabulous Pascale- i just want to reach out and eat one of the fruit jellies!!!
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Hi Cathi, lovely to hear from you. Thanks. Hope all is well with you!
markus: 22nd October 2010
My Ingredients for vin chaud:
1 bottle of red wine
2 dl of orangejuice
2 Satchels of Vanillasugar
4 tsps of Sugar
8 Cloves
3 pinches of cinnamon
1 orange “blade-peeled” and cut to small cubes
PLUS
2 cl of italian amaretto (I’d suggest “Di Saronno”) added to each mug of vin chaud
Heat the vin close to boiling and add/stir in all the ingredients.
Pour the amaretto into the mugs and fill them up with the vin chaud.
Santé
And thank you so much for your ever-inspiring homesite.
MARKUS
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Hi Markus
I am so sorry for not replying to your comment sooner. I was very pleased to see your recipe and as we still have plenty of chilly weather here, i will also give your method a try! Thanks for visiting and commenting. P
markus: 22nd October 2010
Sorry, Tablespoons, not teaspoons!
M
Peggy: 22nd October 2010
loved reading this, since I had my own adventures with pate de fruit – http://learnerchef.blogspot.com/2010/12/mignardise-monday-pate-de-fruit.html – but yours look much prettier!
pascale: 22nd October 2010
Peggy, thanks for the link – I love your blog and will check it out more in a minute. Thanks for visiting, are you in the Savoie? So beautiful there!
LaNae McCracken: 22nd October 2010
i have looked everywhere for a receipe for pomagranate and blood orange jam or jelly . not the candies . could you PLEASE help ?
scot walters: 22nd October 2010
Great little post. I really like your style and this particular post reminded me that you can use apple pectin to make jellies.