Day 6 - Homemade Lemon Jello

Pinterest Day 6
The Pinterest recipe I looked at today was Citrus and Pineapple Gummies by Arsy Vartanian


This is the ugliest jello ever made. But quite tasty.

Ugly lemon jello, already melting in the heat

The Reasons:

Yet another ingredient from the freezer problem. I had oxtail that I'd bought to either make bone broth, and then happened to find some DIY gelatin and thought I'd explore

The Ingredients:

What I can use:

fresh squeezed lemon juice 

honey 

gelatin (fresh and liquid, not dried) (DIY gelatin technique: here)

What I can't use:

fresh squeezed orange juice 

lime juice

pineapple

The Challenges:

1. The gelatin - I had the gelatin I made recently, but I can only dry it in temperatures under 70 F, as it stays liquid at 70. So I had to simply guesstimate the amount for now. I'm sure with more practice I'll have a better idea. 

2. The lack of orange juice - without the orange juice, the honey is the only sweetener. I wasn't sure if the honey flavor might be too overpowering.

What I did:

I had a little homemade lemon juice concentrate left over, maybe 1-2 tablespoons, so I thought I'd use that, to concentrate the flavor. Then I juiced two lemons and put them in a sauce pan on low.  I added probably 2-4 tablespoons of honey as it warmed, mixing it up and then taste testing until it seemed about right. Then I added in enough tabelspoons of gelatin in gelled form to nearly cover the surface area of the pan. 

I stirred it all up until the gelatin and honey had completely melted, poured it into a pan and let it cool for ten minutes, and then put it into the freezer for 15 minutes. It was still completely liquid. So I put it into the fridge for another 30 minutes. 

Why did I make these choices:

The amount of gelatin - as it was nearly the texture of the jello I wanted, maybe a little firmer, I assumed I'd need it to make up a good amount of the recipe.  

The result:

I found the taste awesome.  Very tart but with a hint of sweet. My kids both thought it was too sour, however.  The texture was quite nice - it definitely felt like jello - but not quite as firm as I'd like. Also, the folks who I got the technique for making your own gelatin from were not kidding on the temperature - the jello started to melt after just a few minutes out in my house, at 80 F. So this would not be good for serving at parties unless eating immediately.

How it looked? Kind of gross, LOL.  It is the same color as the gelatin originally, as the lemon juice colored it not at all, so it was kind of pale and milky looking.  

How would I change this:
1. I'd add more gelatin next time, proportionally. I'd prefer it just a hint firmer.
2. I'd like to try one for the kids using a sugar syrup, maybe. They felt that the honey taste was too strong, even when they thought it was too sour.
3. For the look of it, perhaps I could add some juice with a nice dye - like prickly pear juice - where just a little would add color but not much flavor?

Would I make it again:
Absolutely. This was AWESOME.