Learn how to make a gin champagne jelly that is perfect for summer snacking by the pool or serving up at your next dinner party

Jelly isn’t just for sick invalids or kids. Adultify (yes, we made that word up) the classic jelly with gin and champagne. And oh, wash it down with the liquid version in the form of a French 75 cocktail,

To make the jelly, we’ve decided to go with agar agar as our setting agent. Those who follow a vegan lifestyle will be well aware with this particular agent, because it is made from seawood, as opposed to gelatine, which is primarily made from animal material. We’ve also found agar agar to provide a firmer setting, which we quite like. If you prefer a more dissolve in your mouth texture, then stick with gelatine, but give this a try anyhow - you may just like it!

We’ve roughly followed the guide on the Veggie Belly website here. In short, use about two and a bit teaspoons agar agar powder to 2 cups liquid. Generally, more acidic liquid will require more than the guideline amounts, but this will come down to how firm you want your jelly to be. If you do want it more like Aeroplane jelly and not as firm, you may be able to get away with the guideline quantity. However, for the below, we’ve added about a half teaspoon more to account for the acid in champagne. You can get agar agar powder from most Asian grocery stores or specialist food stores.

For the champagne, you’ll want to stick with the drier expressions, given the amount of sugar that’s going into the mix as it is. We’ve chosen a rather citrus driver gin, partly due to the fact that it gives it a nice zing that citrus juice would have otherwise done.

How to make the Gin Champagne Jelly

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2.5 teaspoon agar agar powder
1.5 cups champagne or sparkling wine
60ml gin

Instructions

Dissolve sugar and water over a low heat.
Bring to boil then add two teaspoon of agar agar powder
Continue stirring over a low heat until powder all dissolved
Take off the heat
Add in 1.5 cups of champagne or sparkling (whether Australian sparkling wine or prosecco) slowly.
Also add in about 60ml gin (we used Baker Williams gin, which has rather big citrus notes as it also uses cumquat and oranges as part of its botanical mix and it goes well with the whole mix)
Pour into mould.
Garnish with whatever you want - we did ours with blueberries, dried flowers and mint but feel free to cut out the mint if you’re not a fan of eating it fresh.

How to make the French 75 Cocktail

Ingredients

10ml simple syrup
10ml lemon juice
30ml gin
60ml champagne (or sparkling wine) to top up

Instructions

Shake the syrup, lemon juice and gin in a shaker with ice.
Strain into a champagne flute
Top up with the champagne