Does the word jelly conjure up memories of wobbly, ultra-sugary childhood desserts? Think again.
Two Australian women are on a mission to change that idea and are sparking their very own jelly revolution with impressive results.
Adele Cummings and her gelatin-loving partner-in-crime Renee Heron have been experimenting with the retro dessert, whipping up a range of savoury, sweet and alcohol-spiked creations.
The pair are music teachers by trade who started producing jellies for events in their spare time.
A couple of hens parties, an album launch and a wedding later, and they are now sharing their recipes on an Instagram account and venturing into the world of YouTube with some mesmerising videos, but Adele tells SBS Food the idea started as a humble one.
“It really just came out of my friend and I making them for dinner parties and friends and people seemed quite amazed by them – there’s quite a lot of drama around bringing a jelly out to the table, people can’t take their eyes off it!”
The ladies, who were inspired by UK-based duo , have since expanded their culinary expertise to include panna cotta recipes and a range of “breakfast jellies” including one made out of matcha tea.
As jelly is naturally gluten-free, they are currently working on extending their recipes to include other dietary requirements. They've made jellies that are cow-dairy free, using goat’s cheese and milk, and are hoping to try vegan next by using agar agar – an algae-based jelly.
Some of their creations include zucchini ribbons soaked in ginger and honey with gin and soda; layered honey spiced mandarin and cardamom cream; a cherry cheesecake jelly with edible flower garden; and spiced pinot noir with hazelnuts, almonds, raisins, crystallised ginger, sour cherries and silver coins.
Although some of their recipes seem more like a work of art than a mouthful, Adele believes anyone can get on board with the jelly revolution. “They look quite impressive but it’s really easy," she says.
“Once you know a few general rules of the jelly world, you can pretty much do absolutely any flavour combination, and the trick to making it look amazing is just a fancy mould.”
With jelly leaving much of its popularity behind in the '80s, Adele and Renee trawled through antiques stores to find unique moulds for their creations.
And Adele thinks that soon, they won’t be the only ones.
“There’s been a bit of a retro revolution, I’ve seen quite a few jellies in delicious. magazine and has done a jelly recently so it might become a bit of a thing - everyone loves a bit of retro every now and again.”
Adele and Renee live across the country from one another, with one in Brisbane and the other in Melbourne, but they regularly meet for interstate jelly dates.
