Monday, October 3, 2011

Ai Yu Jelly with White Peaches


Aiyu jelly is a jelly made from the gel of the seeds of a variety of fig, and is commonly found in Taiwan and Singapore (where it is better known as "ice jelly"). It is usually served with lime juice and honey or syrup, and sometimes with fruit cocktail in Singapore. The texture is somewhere between agar-agar and konyaku jelly, and makes a light and refreshing dessert.

I managed to get hold of canned Ai Yu jelly at the Asian grocery store  here. As I didn't have lime, I substituted with lemon instead, a little honey and some of the syrup from canned white peaches. The texture of the jelly was slightly firmer compared to the fresh ones I used to get in Singapore, but still, it was as close as I could get to ice jelly. And who knew (I didn't until I watched Andrew Zimmern on an episode Bizarre Foods featuring Taiwan) that one could extract gelatin out of fig seeds?