Not Martha

to make: jell-o fruit!

jello fruit on a plate I first saw this in a dim sum restaurant, and it is so charming I had to make some for myself. I love food shaped like other food! I have seen the idea in a few different places since the dim sum restaurant, so I don’t know where to give credit.
oranges, lemons and limes I decided to try using oranges, lemons and limes with orange, lemon, lime and blue jello. Get together a good sharp knife, a bowl to hold the fruit pulp, another bowl to hold the rinds, and a cutting board.
hollowing Slice the fruit cleanly in half lengthwise (through the axis). Now, carefully remove the pulp while keeping the half rind fully intact.
hollow fruit I blotted the rinds with paper towels to get any juice and keep the rind fairly dry.
on cups Now you need to set each half rind upright so you can fill it with jello. I used some little plastic containers I had around, but I would suggest either mugs or water glasses. They are heavier and easier to move from the counter to the fridge. ** tip from the comments: muffin tins work perfectly for this part, thanks!
filling I was going to use the jiggler instructions and accidentally used twice as much water as the jiggler recipe called for. But it came out a very nice consistency for the job. You’ll want the jello a little firmer than the normal recipe as you have to slice it in half again. Add hot water to the jello until everything is well dissolved and pour into the fruit before it begins to set. Fill up as high as you can, the jello will shrink a bit when cooling. One nice technique I have heard of for pouring something like this is the fill a (very well cleaned) tin can or paper cup and fold the rim into a pour spot. I suspect this would be a little easier than my ladle method.
setting in fridge Carefully transfer to the fridge and let set for about three hours, per box directions. You may want to place a baking sheet or a plate underneath so avoid spilling orange jello onto your broccoli. Believe me, it’s isn’t the best combination of flavors.
done! When the jello is set, place the fruit open-side down on a cutting board, hold it’s shape with one hand and carefully slice in half lengthwise again to form quarters. Be careful not to smash the fruit to much, you want to keep the jello as intact as possibly. I used a sharp serrated knife and sawed through the fruit which worked fine. Although, a dramatic two-handed chop with a sharp cleaver might be more fun. Keep chilled until ready to serve to your happy happy guests. I find adults like this as much as kids.
blue oranges hindsight
The oranges turned out nice. However the concentrated lemon jello was yucky and the lime rind made the jello very bitter. While it was pretty, I’m going to stick to oranges in the future. However, perhaps if you were to buy unflavored gelatin and add juices to taste it would be all good. What else could we do? Use the half rinds as sorbet cups or for vanilla ice cream. And of course let us not forget that if you are of drinking age these are a good way to present jello shots.

61 Comments

61 responses so far ↓

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  • 3 Cynthia // Sep 25, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    I don’t like giving my kids regular jello jigglers due to the amount of sugar in them. So I always make my jello jigglers with one box of regular jello made to the directions (for amount of water used) but I use some of that cold water to bloom unflavored gelatine; mix it all together with the jello mix and remaining water and microwave it until it is all dissolved. Then it has the firmness of jigglers but the flavor and same amount of sugar as regular jello.

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  • 5 Samantha // Dec 18, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    Another thing that really makes them worth while is to add either a gummy bear in the centers or fruit slices!! its so yummy(:

  • 6 Pete // Dec 18, 2011 at 7:07 pm

    If you blanch then plunge into cold water (do this twice to make super certain) your citrus rind you should remove most of the bitterness and maintain most of the flavour and scent oil.

    You could also give the rind a brief boil in sugar syrup, as well!

  • 7 rose // Jan 21, 2012 at 9:57 am

    just found this site and i love it :)

    however, i wanted to point out that the lemon experiment probably came out bitter because you used regular lemons, which are chock-full of pesticides, and this makes the rinds extremely bitter. try it with organic (or pesticide-free) lemons next time, and i’m sure it will taste much better!

  • 8 Margaret // Feb 11, 2012 at 8:09 am

    I mix my jelly (jello) in a measuring jug and then its easy to pour in to any mould or trifle

  • 9 Amie // May 25, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    I made these for the first time today, and I and giving the watermelon one a whirl! 1 pk of jello does half of the little mini watermellons. I did the adult version and used Pinnacle whipped cream flavored vodka with the orange jello… AMAZING! its like a cream cicle! I found that a grapefruit spoon works great to get the bits out and have a cleaner ‘cup”

  • 10 Keri // Jun 4, 2012 at 2:14 pm

    Just made these today for my son’s preschool class. They were a hit! I used a 2 cup measuring cup and filled the oranges almost full, then I transferred them to the refirgerator. After about 5 minutes I filled them the rest of the way to help make up for the shrinkage. Can’t wait to try these using the whipped cream vodka, yum!

  • 11 celia // May 5, 2015 at 2:28 am

    I tried these out with limes and found them bitter. I wondered if letting the rind soak in water for a while would help with this. I considered adding sugar to edge or rind at the very end with jello already set in lime as well to cut the bitterness. Has anyone tried any of this and found it to make a difference?

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