Olive oil jelly

January 18, 2012

Written by fanny

It all started one night, when J. mentioned three words. Olive. Oil. Jelly.

It was last week. Ever since, I haven’t stopped thinking about all the desserts we could make with it.
I mean, my favourite summer snack is vanilla ice-cream with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of fleur de sel after all.

So we’ve been working, trying to find out how to turn pungent oil into a clear jelly.

And somehow, I think we’ve gotten there. After many failed experiments.

In autumn, with figs, a young brillat-savarin curd, and a warm sponge so full of vanilla seeds it’s almost grey. Perhaps, a few toasted and salted almonds for crunch.

In winter, with caramelised apples, a white chocolate granita – not unlike snow, crystallised rosemary, and fresh apple bubbles. And maybe, a few baby quenelles of croissant ice-cream. But that’s just a thought.

In spring, with strawberries and a hibiscus sorbet. Or flapjack ice-cream. Oh yes, flapjack ice-cream sounds good. Maybe with rhubarb and cardamom, Campari fluid gel too!

In summer, with candied tomatoes. And a simple vanilla ice-cream. Or with an apricot roasted in basil syrup, honeyed kataifi, pistachios, and honey ice-cream.

Olive oil jelly

I absolutely adore olive oil in my desserts. A grassy one - almost green - with summer fruits. A sherry-cask aged Arbequina with chocolate and tonka. A matured olive oil with vanilla ice-cream and flaky sea salt.

Another way to incorporate olive oil in a playful way is this jelly. And although I'm would like to re-work the recipe to make it slightly less sweet, I'm obsessed with it.

Notes

This recipe uses isomalt, a sugar that has the property of having a sweetening power of 0.5 - which means it's half as sweet as caster sugar.

It is usually available to buy at specialty shops, but if you can't get your hands on it, you could substitute it for the sugar of your choice; just keep it mind your jelly might be on the sweeter side.

Author: Fanny Zanotti

Prep Time15

Total Time2 15

Makes 500 g jelly.

Ingredients

10 g gelatine
100 g water
120 g isomalt read noter above
90 g caster sugar
30 g glucose syrup
220 g extra virgin olive oil
fine sea salt to taste

Instructions

Soak the gelatine leaves into ice-cold water.
In a pan, bring the water, isomalt, sugar and glucose syrup to the boil.
Take the pan off the heat, squeeze the gelatine leaves and whisk in.
Slowly pour the olive oil, emulsifying with a whisk or an immersion blender as you do so. Add salt to taste.
Pour into a container or spread onto acetate for a jelly sheet, and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Cut into dices, or use a fork to break it into smaller pieces.

Note: this post was updated in April 2023.

animated gifs illustration jellies olive oil plated desserts recipes

16 Comments

Irene
January 18, 2012 at 11:47 PM

wow…What an interesting experiment…how would you use it for?

I would use it as part of a plated dessert. Either in a very thin sheet covering fruits and cream dollops or cut into small cubes. You can find an example of flavour combinations at the beginning of the post. But the uses are endless!
Reply
christelle is flabbergasting
January 19, 2012 at 3:21 AM

Rooohlalala j’adore l’idée ! Avec quoi tu sers ça ? Ça se suffit à elle-même cette gelée ?
ps. Glace vanille + huile d’olive + fleur de sel = amour

Contente que tu aimes bien. Pour les utilisations c’est sans fin. De mon cote je l’itiliserai comme element d’un dessert.
Reply
chriesi
January 19, 2012 at 6:56 AM

Fabulous and your ideas are simply brilliant, especially that “thought”, I can see it right in front of my eyes and I am in love.
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miuccia
January 19, 2012 at 5:21 PM

I want to touch it. and taste it needless to say. <3
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Delphine
January 19, 2012 at 5:33 PM

Il n’y a que toi pour faire des choses pareilles ! Mais ta description me fait tellement envie que je serais prête à goûter (à condition qu’il y ait une boule de glace vanille :))
Des bises !
Delphine
Reply
Nuts about food
January 20, 2012 at 10:39 AM

What a marvellous idea! And that colour…
Reply
Lucia
January 21, 2012 at 10:30 AM

J’aime la couleur: ça me rechauffe.
Reply
lis
January 21, 2012 at 6:24 PM

beautiful. i definitely see a crunchy nut next to this. and maybe a hard cheese.
loads of crystally,crunch to go with…
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Aïda
January 23, 2012 at 8:21 PM

Tu m’étonneras toujours toi! <3
Reply
LeChatdeSucre
January 24, 2012 at 9:18 PM

Beautiful! I have to try it…i have a few liters of oil left from my aunt’s farm…good tuscan oil! Can’t wait! Thank you, Fanny!
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Amanda Selbach
January 28, 2012 at 3:57 PM

I just love it!!!! I just love you!!!

Me toooo. xx

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Austin
January 28, 2012 at 6:21 PM

I would think that this would be great as a center for Pierre’s Olive Oil and Vanilla macaron, I’ll try experimenting.

Great, let me know how it turns out. But I think it would be a perfect addition to an otherwise fantastic macaron.

Reply
Marie
January 29, 2012 at 1:24 PM

Très tentée de vivre toutes ces saisons en accéléré pour tester les combinaisons proposées! Bon, je vais être patiente…surtout que dans mes placards je n’ai même pas de syrop de glucose…
Reply
Sara
January 31, 2012 at 1:26 PM

What a neat idea–you are so creative! Maybe not perfect, but definitely a gelee, you have the video to prove it. (And, I don’t think anyone would complain).
Reply
poppycorn
February 9, 2012 at 6:08 PM

I have been obsessing over this “warm sponge so full of vanilla seeds it’s almost grey”…
Reply
Rick
February 23, 2012 at 1:57 AM

That colorful, impressionistic drawing of an olive oil tin is absolutely beautiful. I’m wondering where it comes from?
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Olive oil jelly