Making Jelly at home is very simple with this three ingredient vegan recipe. Homemade Rose Jelly is made with Agar-Agar and it is vegan.
Growing up, jelly was considered all kinds of fancy. I remember bugging my parents and grandparents alike to get me those cute looking jellies whenever they went out. And then life happened, I grew up duly forgetting about Jelly. I don’t think it was the taste that appealed to me as much as the texture 🙂
For a long long time I was very hesitant to try out non-gelatin based stuff. If I had to set something up – like making Panna Cotta or No Bake Cheese Cake, I resorted to using gelatin. I was mildly surprised (read as shocked) to find out how gelatin is made and that put a stop to using it ever again in my kitchen. Recently when I wanted to make Jelly, I geared up all my courage to attempt it using Agar-Agar (owing to an epic failure few years ago). Again, I was surprised how easy it was to both use as well as set the jelly. Guess what I didn’t even have to refrigerate the jelly for it to set perfectly.
As I had my rose syrup handy, I used it to make some homemade rose jelly. Trust me, both the husband and I were like kids that day, not able to keep our hands off the jelly. It was fresh, light and had a beautiful flavor. The next time, I am planning to add in some fruits and natural flavors to enhance it further. Stay tuned to check out how I used my Rose Jelly 🙂
How to Make Natural Rose Jelly
Homemade Rose Jelly | Vegan Rose Jelly Recipe
MEASUREMENT
1 cup = 250ml, 1 tablespoon = 15ml, 1 teaspoon = 5ml
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 1.5 cups Water
- 2 tablespoon Rose Syrup recipe link in notes
- 5 gms Agar-Agar
- Rose/Red Food Color few drops optional
Instructions
How I made –
- In a bowl add 1½ cup of water and mix in ¼ cup of sugar. Mix well until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add 2 tablespoon of rose syrup and mix well.
- In another bowl, add 5 gms of agar-agar – cut into short/small strands.
- Wash it in running water one or two times and squeeze off the excess water.
- Now add ½ cup of sugar-rose syrup and heat it on low flame.
- As the mixture comes to a boil, mix it well so that the agar-agar begins to melt.
- Keep boiling it on low flame until agar-agar has completely dissolved.
- Add this mixture to the remaining sugar syrup and mix well.
- Immediately pour it into an aluminum tin and don’t disturb it for 20-30 mins.
- Once the jelly has been set, carefully invert it into a plate and cut into desired shapes.
- Serve as it is 🙂
Note –
- With agar-agar, the mixture need not be refrigerated to be set. However if you want, chill it until it is set.
- If the color of the mixture is too pale, use few drops of pink or red food color. For natural colors, use beetroot juice.
- Adjust sugar quantity as per preference.
- It is important to mix the boiled agar-agar mixture with rest of the syrup quickly.
Homemade Rose Jelly Recipe with Step by Step Pictures
1. In a bowl add 1½ cup of water and mix in ¼ cup of sugar. Mix well until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Add 2 tablespoon of rose syrup and mix well.
3. In another bowl, add 5 gms of agar-agar – cut into short/small strands.
4. Wash it in running water one or two times and squeeze off the excess water.
5. Now add ½ cup of sugar-rose syrup and heat it on low flame.
6. As the mixture comes to a boil, mix it well so that the agar-agar begins to melt.
7. Keep boiling it on low flame until agar-agar has completely dissolved.
8. Add this mixture to the remaining sugar syrup and mix well.
9. Immediately pour it into an aluminum tin and don’t disturb it for 20-30 mins.
10. Once the jelly has been set, carefully invert it into a plate and cut into desired shapes.
11. Serve as it is 🙂
Recipe Notes
- You can find the rose syrup recipe here.
- With agar-agar, the mixture need not be refrigerated to be set. However if you want, chill it until it is set.
- If the color of the mixture is too pale, use few drops of pink or red food color. For natural colors, use beetroot juice.
- Adjust sugar quantity as per preference.
- It is important to mix the boiled agar-agar mixture with rest of the syrup quickly, else it will begin to set quickly right away.
I would be delighted to know if you have tried this recipe, don’t forget to share your feedback and comments below. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me! I am also available on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter 🙂
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
Delicious dessert. This is our traditional summer snack ☺️☺️ I love both agar agar strands n powder. From Pana Cotta to jigarthanda agar agar comes in handy...??
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
Delicious dessert. This is our standard summer snack. ☺️. Love both agar agar strands and agar agar powder. From pannacotta to jigarthanda I use it for all. ?
chcooks
🙂 🙂 Few years back I tried it for making something and it didnt workout at all. After that I didnt bother to try it. Glad I revisited this amazing ingredient 🙂
Divya K
Lovely recipe.. Will try for sure. Where do we get agar agar ?
chcooks
Hi Divya, I found Agar Agar at a local grocery shop. It is pretty mych widely available in any super market. Let me know if you give this a try 🙂
Cook with Smile..
Loved the rose jelly...After using agar agar couple of times including the failed attempts now I feel comfortable to use it ?
chcooks
Yes, I know! This is so good 🙂
Traditionally Modern Food
Kids can't say no to this dessert.. yum
chcooks
True 🙂
Lynda Hardy
I've not tried agar-agar, but I've been meaning to - this looks like such a wonderful addition to a feast to celebrate Spring! I'd love if you'd come share this with Awesome Life Friday. http://rchreviews.blogspot.com/
chcooks
Sure I would be glad to take part 🙂 I am just not sure how.
FrugalHausfrau
We were just talking at the house about how our commercial instant jello boxes have no flavor at all - the only way to tell one flavor from the other is the color. Well this recipe sounds amazing and you've inspired me, too!
chcooks
Thanks much Mollie 🙂 Glad you liked this recipe!
Sonal Patel
Just tried it! Colour looks great but didn’t set when left outside. I did put it in the fridge about an hour ago but no such luck yet. Any tips on how to fix it?
chcooks
Hi Sonal, Is your agar-agar new stock? It should be thick and glossy when you boil it and melt completely. Pls check the consistency of the sugar syrup too.
chcooks
You could add some more agar agar if it has not set at all. If it is semi solid, whisk it fully until smooth and then add some more hot agar-agar mix - set it in fridge.
Mandy
I have Rose water not the syrup! Would I just use that and slightly increase the sugar? Thanks.
Ramya
Rose water does not have the intense rose flavor as rose syrup which uses the rose extract/essence, so you wouldnt be able to directly replace it like that. It would take some trial & error.