Apple Jello

Ben loves a dessert from a local Japanese restaurant and I decided to try my best to recreate it.

I started with unflavored gelatine and the back of the box lists a recipe for Fruit Juice KNOX Blox. It says to bring 3 cup of apple juice to a boil. Meanwhile, sprinkle 4 envelopes (1 oz) Unflavored Gelatine with 1 cup apple juice in a large bowl. Let it stand for a minute. Then combine the hot juice to softened gelatine. For a Special Extra, it says to add 2 Tbsp sugar or honey.

Since I want to experiment, I reduced the recipe.

From right to left here is my first experiment:

#1 (right): 1 cup apple juice & 1 envelope Unflavored Gelatine. 

It was too hard and predictably tasteless. The apple flavor is mostly lost once it firms up.

#2 (middle): 1 cup apple juice, 1 envelope Unflavored Gelatine & 1 Tbsp sugar. 

It was better since it was sweeter. I forgot that I reduced the original recipe by 1/4 but I only reduced the sugar by 1/2. There was still no apple taste but now it had some sweetness.

#3 (left): 1 cup apple juice, 1 envelope Unflavored Gelatine, 1 Tbsp sugar & 1/2 tsp Apple Extract. 

Since I had previously experimented with apple jello before, I knew that the apple flavor is usually lost after it becomes jello. In preparation for this time, I purchased some Apple Extract from Amazon to help bring out the apple flavor. It was the best from this experiment. It was sweet and we could taste the apple flavor. It was still too hard though.

The results: Too hard. I think this original recipe is meant for jigglers (jello that is firm enough to be cut into shapes). I should have predicted as much since the recipe says you can cut into squares after 3 hours. So I start to experiment with more liquid.

#4 is an attempt to get the jello less firm.

• 1.5 apple juice 
• 1 envelope Unflavored Gelatine
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp Apple Extract

Bring half of the apple juice to a boil. In a bowl, combine the other half of apple juice with 1 envelope Gelatine. Let it stand for a minute and then pour the hot apple juice in. Add sugar and stir to melt. Add Apple Extract and stir to combine. Refrigerate until firm.

This version was much better and much less firm. I'll probably try to add a little more liquid next time to see how soft I can get but I think Ben is pretty happy with this version since he likes the jello a bit firm.

We also did a blind taste test yesterday between the 100% apple juice in a bottle (in the picture above) and the 100% apple juice from Martinelli's. Martinelli's won the taste test and it was just more flavorful than the regular bottle version. I think using this as your apple juice base will also help bring out the apple flavor when you're experimenting with this recipe. Who knows, maybe it's strong enough to the point that you don't need to add any extra apple extract!