Sometimes you win, sometimes your jelly doesn’t set…

This week was an experiment in foreign jello-molding and it had some hits and some misses.

As you can see from the video above, the Vietnamese Coconut Agar mix was a little…chunky. I haven’t used agar before so I’m not sure if this is normal but it took a while to dissolve the mix in the boiling water and then it immediately started to firm up in a very…unappetizing way. I figured it would sort itself out in the fridge overnight but when I went to unmold them…

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It just plopped out in this really gross, lumpy looking pile. Womp, womp.

The packet of Thai Jasmine Agar smelled amazing when I was making it but looked suspiciously like skim milk (not super promising) and it just never set at all. Why this is remains a mystery. Had it set, I was planning to serve it with diced honeydew melon. Perhaps one day.

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The only success so far as been with the Thai Blackberry Gelatin. I had high hopes given the beautiful packaging and Imperial brand name. It did not disappoint.

The pictures don’t do the color justice but it was a gorgeous purple that I haven’t seen before in gelatin form and it tasted as good as it looked. I used a little leftover Cool-Whip to create a thin creamy layer on the bottom which looked really pretty with these molds.

It was super hot when I unmolded these so the whipped cream may look a little droopy. I was also missing my semi-professional gelatin photographer so bear with me on the photos.

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I’m not sure what was up with the agar packets. Maybe it has something to do with being carted around Southeast Asia in the bottom of my backpack for nearly four months. Entirely possible.

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