Tag: jellies

  • Olive oil jelly

    Olive oil jelly

    Olive oil jelly

    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.

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    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 minutes
    Total Time2 hours 15 minutes
    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.