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Breaking the mould: jelly goes from children’s favourite to star food


Top chefs and celebrities are embracing the humble jelly, with supermarkets reporting sharp rise in sales

“It’s an excellent example of a pudding that pulls on people’s heartstrings,” says Anna Tobias, the chef and founder of Café Deco in London, which features delicate quince and rhubarb versions on its menu. Writing about a feast at the court of Henry VIII in 1517, the bishop Francesco Chieregato recalled the jellies: “Twenty sorts perhaps, surpassed everything; they were made in the shape of castles and of animals of various descriptions, as beautiful and as admirable as can be imagined.” The food artist Sienna Murdoch has even created her own formula using Irish carrageenan seaweed, using it to make an alien banquet for the film The Marvels, jiggling breasts for the performance clown Paulina Lenoir and quivering quinces for the indie fragrance brand Ffern.

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