I thought preparing Clare Crespo's Jell-O Aquarium recipe for after-nap treat time would make me the coolest Papa in the Penguin room (and, it seemed irresistably neat). I bought a 1-gallon polycarbonate cylinder for it and gummy eels because an aquarium of eels just seemed more apropriate for a gang of toddlers. I was totally psyched when I got the time to put it together.Save your precious time and file this away as a miserable failure.
1. Berry Blue Jello is pretty cloudy and dark, both big problems for visualizing floating items.
2. Berry Blue Jello is pretty expensive and no generics exist because of the apparent challenge finding blue-hued food.
3. Fruit cocktail, drained, DOES NOT SINK!
Clare, you're creative but you gotta test your recipes instead of having an expensive photographer shoot what the creation should look like. That's why food blogs are so valuable, they're essentially tested recipes. I should've known this looked a bit too good to be true.
At least we have jello for a few nights for dessert.
Don't give up! This can be really cool and impresses the hell out of the little kids.
ReplyDeleteI've made this too. Berry Blue is way to dark. We used one of the sparkling white grape jellos if I remember correctly. Looked a lot better and the club soda made it look like there were bubbles.
We used only enough club soda for one box of jello tho. Otherwise it had too many bubbles.
For the fruit cocktail, you need to partialy set the jello first. Or you can use jelly beans on the bottom.
We used swedish fish and gummies for creatures. The gymmies are defintley better as the swedish fish start to melt in the jello if you don't serve it within say 12 hours.
Thanks Robert, all seem like good suggestions and, most importantly, the result of some testing of your own. I'll have more confidence trying this next time.
ReplyDeleteJust to note though, I really worked hard to get the stuff to sink. I kept stirring as the jello cooled every 30 minutes, but it kept rising. It's hard to believe it will sink under any conditions. I love the jelly bean idea. I think that'll be my gravel.
Anyone for a gallon of jello?
Gallon of Jello, AHAHHHAHAHAHHA. That's funny, then kinda sad.
ReplyDeleteBlogs can be VERY helpful.
Biggles