Jello Mold Tutorial-- Weird Science.

Well, it's been a while since we launched our jello journey on this blog, we truly meant to post sooner but a hard truth we keep relearning is that jello molds have a mind of their own, and our first attempts to capture the process for you weren't up to standard.

But finally our efforts were rewarded, and we're here to walk you through the process. We'll be using the Cosmopolitan recipe from Jello Shot Test Kitchen, with the modification of using Agar. Part of the reason I hadn’t eaten jello products in a while is that I became a vegetarian at around the same time kids normally stop eating jello. By the time college rolled around and there were other social applications for jello, I had realized what gelatin was made of and politely declined. But with our recent exploration of jello as an art medium as well as a tasty treat, I decided I needed to experience our creations fully. Enter the Agar! Agar is a seaweed-derived vegetarian gelling agent used not only in our kitchen experiments, but in real science labs as a base substance in Petri dishes. We’ll go no further down that path because it may start to get gross—just wanted you to know that when you’re creating with agar, you’re in the big leagues. Like maybe Nobel-prize territory.

Agar can be substituted into any recipe that calls for gelatin, just remember that ½ teaspoon = 1 packet of gelatin. Agar can be found at most natural food stores in the bulk section. A word of warning: you don’t need much agar for a batch of jello, usually just around 1 teaspoon, so you can buy it sparingly. I zealously measured out a few generous scoops, not noticing the price, and ended up with $14.00 worth—probably enough to last the next 3 years.

InIn order to form a base, dissolve the amount of agar your recipe calls for in ½ the amount of non-alcohol based liquid. Do this by measuring out half the liquid into a pan, sprinkling with the agar, and allowing to sit for 5 minutes. Liquids should all be at room temperature when you begin working. For this recipe, 1/2 cup cranberry juice + 1/8 cup Roses lime juice, sprinkled with 1 1/2 teaspoons agar.

After the first 5 minutes of setting, turn on the heat and bring just barely to a boil. You don’t really want to boil the mixture, we tried it once and the results were bizarre and chunky and gross, not silky and clear.

Once the mixture begins to delicately boil, lower the heat and simmer gently until the agar is dissolved. How can you tell if the agar is dissolved? I noticed that a light white foam would gather around the edges of the pan, and that the granular texture would disappear on the spoon. This is the part that requires the finesse-- you don't want boil it because of the weird consistency issues sited above, but you need to simmer it for long enough that the agar fully incorporates. Tricky!

After simmering for approximately 4 minutes and achieving the desired level of dissolved add the second ½ of your non-alcoholic mixer (1/2 cup cranberry juice and 1/8 cup Rose's lime juice) and stir.

Add the alcohol component if your recipe calls for it (here 1 cup vodka and 1/4 cup Grand Marnier) and pour into molds. You don’t want to dawdle, unlike gelatin agar will set at room temperature. It will also begin to set quickly, usually within 10 minutes you can see signs of it solidifying.

One last note: agar doesn’t react well to any oil or grease so make sure your implements are clean, and don’t worry about greasing your mold. Getting your jello creation out of the mold is a topic unto itself: stay tuned for our next post!