Vegetarian Strawberry Blancmange: Old-Fashioned Jelly Cream
An intense strawberry flavoured jellied cream recipe which is heavy on satisfaction, but light (ish) in calories. This strawberry blancmange is made with agar agar rather than gelatine so is eminently suitable for vegetarians.
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On our last trip to the New Forest to visit CT’s mother, I was given a family heirloom to take home with me: a vintage glass jelly mould*.
Well, I have to confess I’m not much of a jelly maker and the mould has been sitting in the cupboard in a rather unloved way. But when I got my hands on a mass of cheap strawberries last month, it occurred to me to try making a vegetarian strawberry blancmange.
I remember strawberry blancmange coming out of a packet when I was young and given that gelatine is a principle ingredient, this particular dish faded into the not-worth-bothering-with corner of my mind.
Making a real blancmange from scratch is, however, a different thing entirely. I used agar agar as a vegetarian substitute for gelatine and the flavour of strawberries was intense.
Recipes for strawberry blancmange are rare, it seems and I didn’t have a single one in any of my books. I trawled around on the internet and ended up basing mine on one from Delicious.
Intriguingly it listed ground almonds as one of the ingredients. I went with the almonds, but reduced the cream to milk ratio quite considerably. I was looking for a creamy dessert without an overload of calories.
Vegetarian Strawberry Blancmange
I was rather concerned about the mould coming out properly and overdid the agar agar a little, but hey, this was my first attempt at using this interesting seaweed product. The result did not quite have the melt in the mouth quality I was hoping for, but the blancmange did come out of the mould easily.
I have given a reduced amount of agar agar in the recipe below, which should give a better result.
The other thing I would do differently next time is to sieve the strawberry purée, the texture was a little seedy and not nearly as smooth as it should have been. But for all that I was exceedingly pleased with my first ever homemade blancmange.
I served it with strawberries and what I hoped would be a complimentary drizzle of spiced chocolate balsamic vinegar over the top. It was.
Blending Strawberries
I used a stick blender to make the strawberry purée, but if I’d had a power blender back then, I might not have had such a seedy result. On the other hand, I will now always sieve out the seeds to ensure I have a super smooth blancmange.
Other Jelly Type Recipes Using Gelatine Alternatives
- Ginger & mango jelly with mango Shrikand from Citrus Spice
- Strawberry panna cotta from Simply Food
- Vegan apple & pomegranate jelly from Family Friends Food
- Vegan gin & gooseberry jelly from Family Friends Food
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this vegetarian strawberry blancmange, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Vegetarian Strawberry Blancmange. PIN IT.
Vegetarian Strawberry Blancmange – The Recipe
Strawberry Blancmange – Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 200 ml milk
- 100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- 15 g ground almonds
- 350 g strawberries hulled – plus more to decorate
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (I used 1 tsp vanilla vinegar)
- 50 g golden caster sugar I used vanilla sugar.
- 2 tsp agar agar
- chocolate balsamic vinegar to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Spray a 600ml jelly mould lightly with a flavourless oil.
- Mix the agar agar in with the milk and cream and bring to a simmer in a medium sized pan over moderate heat stirring all the while.200 ml milk, 2 tsp agar agar, 100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- Add the almonds and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the agar agar has dissolved. Remove from the heat.15 g ground almonds
- Puree the strawberries, vinegar and sugar with a stick blender and push through a sieve to remove the seeds.350 g strawberries, ½ tsp vanilla extract, 50 g golden caster sugar
- Mix into the milk mixture, then pour into the jelly mould, filling it right to the top.
- Cover and leave in a cool place to set overnight.
- When ready to serve, turn out onto a plate. You may need to dip the mould into hot water to aid extraction.
- Drizzle with chocolate balsamic vinegar, if liked and serve with strawberries.chocolate balsamic vinegar
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
It’s More Glorious Reds for the Vegetable Palette this month over at A2K – A Seasonal Veg Table, so this vegetarian strawberry blancmange recipe is winging its way to Shaheen. I’m also sending this wobbly jelly cream off to Emily at A Mummy Too for #RecipeOfTheWeek.
Far too much agar agar – fortunately we had time to make a second and used a small fraction of the amount called for in this recipe. The first, with a full 2 tbsp, came out rock solid. Adjusting to use 0.5-0.75 tsp per cup of liquid yielded a much better texture.
Thank you for picking this up for me. The recipe was meant to say 2 tsp rather than 2 tbsp. I’ve amended it now.
There is a starch called kuzu that helps to give agar agar a more creamy texture. Also it adds a little to the sweet flavor s well. Yo would mix in it water or strawberry juice to make a slurry and add it in toward the very last. it is a thickener like corn starch and arrowroot and will behave like it. Meaning it will turn from cloudy to clear-ish once it cooks. Kuzu is not cheap don’t use more than a table spoon or two at a time.
Thank you Laurel. I haven’t used kuzu before, though I have heard of it.
Choclette, it looks so yummy! I love the step-by-step instructions, making it an easy recipe to follow!
Not sure about the step-by-step instructions, but that’s a thought for another time.
Choclette, it looks perfect and tasty! Can’t wait to have this anytime of the day, love it!
Thank you. I’m not sure I’d want it any time of the day, but it’s good to have once in a while.
I was looking for a creamy dessert with an overload of calories – how a blamange or any dessert should be described. My hubby is going to love me so much blamange is his favourite-again from years back out of s packet. Pinned with the intention of making in the next few days as I have a kilo of strawbs in the fridge. Love your jelly mould, I don’t have one but I do have a silicone bundt style mould that I think would work. Am also going to pass this to a friend who loves comfort food unashamedly. As I’m not a veggie I will experiment with some leaf gelatin that I have. Love that your recipes are always so inviting. X
Thanks so much for the kind words Sammie. If I made this again, I would definitely sieve the strawberries so you don’t get any gritty seedy bits. It was my first attempt and I have now learnt my lesson. Gelatin is the classic ingredient, so it should be fine. Hope your hubby is appreciative.
The colour is amazing. I’ve been meaning to make blancmange for a while and have a recipe bookmarked but never get round to making it. Yours is rather stunning, even if it was bitty from the seeds. Thanks for sharing with #VegetablePalette.
Well it was a first time Shaheen and a learning curve. Next time I will definitely sieve out the seeds.
What a great use of a lovely old mould – strawberries make everything such a wonderful colour
Thanks CC. You are so right strawberries are a wonderful fruit 🙂
I’ve just made this, as it looked so beautiful and I was desperate to try it! Currently setting, but I did scrape the bowl out and it was absolutely essence of strawberry! I have a couple of similar moulds, so I used one of those and fingers crossed it will turn out. Thanks so much for the inspiration! Hope your summer is going well x
Oh, crossing fingers it turns out well for you Rachel – do let me know. I’m not quite sure why the strawberry flavour is enhanced, but it is.
It was beautiful…thanks so much! I left the almonds out (by accident!) but it was fine…so full of pure strawberry flavour. May try with raspberries next time. I did sieve the strawbs too. Having a bit now for breakfast in the sun!! Thanks for the lovely recipe x
Phew, I’m glad it worked out well Rachel. I will definitely be sieving next time, although like you, next time might be raspberries. Thanks for letting me know.
I love those glass jelly molds – I have quite a collection. Your blancmange looks beautiful in yours.
Thanks Heidi. It seems we all have them hiding away somewhere – out with them and get them used I say.
That looks fantastic! I love the jelly mould – what a great family heirloom to inherit ! I also really like that you use the agar agar to make a vegetarian option. I’m not vegetarian, but it’s nice to try new things like that every now and then.
Thanks Sarah. It’s always useful to know how to make vegetarian versions of things – just in case 😉
Oh. Oh my gosh, yes! This looks amazing! I’d make this in a heartbeat. Why almonds, though? Is it a requirement for the dish? I’m not familiar at all.
Thanks Leisel. According to my encyclopaedia, Sugar and Sweets, the original French blancmange was made with almonds. The English version uses cornflour.
How VERY pretty and I have some of those old moulds that I use for jelly but have to say your blancmange looks so pretty when turned out from it! Karen
Thanks Karen, I impressed myself. Though I expect you’ve turned out many a pretty jelly in your time 🙂
So impressed by your blancmange. I too have memories of the packet kind, not something I was ever very keen on to slippery a texture by half! Bet yours is much nicer with almonds and cream and strawberries you could hardly go wrong. Love the mould too, mine doesn’t have such a nice pattern on the base/top and I’ve never successfully got a jelly out of it!
Thanks Janice. The proportion of strawberries to milk & cream is quite high Janice, so the texture isn’t “slippery”. I don’t know if you’re meant to or not, but I sprayed the mould with oil, which seemed to do the trick.
I listened to piece on the radio last week about retro food and the interviewee was on a mission to bring back blancmange! Apparently the first recipes for it were savoury. I’ve never tried it myself but I remember there used to be a packet in our larder for years after my brother had to make it at school!
Never eaten blancmange Ness? What is the world coming too? I didn’t know about the savoury nature of blancmange, but I’ve just checked in my Sugar and Sweets encyclopaedia and it said it was originally a Persian dish of shredded chicken, ground rice, milk and sugar – hmmmm! It seems I made a French version, which includes almonds and gelatine but the Italian version is now known as Panna Cotta!!! Thank you for getting me to look it up.
I love love love strawberry based desserts and this looks delicious. I haven’t had blancmange in years and I haven’t tried to use agar agar before – perhaps time to give it a go!
Oh yes, do give it a go Laura. Time to bring back blancmange I reckon and one that veggies can eat too 🙂
Oh that looks yummy! and proper veggie! Yay! I must try it!
Thank you Anna. Do let me know how you get on if you do try it.
look at that beauty! I love it. So pink and perfect. I was never a fan of blancmange but i’m sure I could be tempted by a spoonful… was it a lovely flavour?
The flavour was amaaaaazzzzing Dom. Worth revisiting maybe?
This looks delicious! I’ve never tried anything like this. I am tempted to have a go at this myself. I’m sure it won’t look as great as your though! x
Oh go on Kat, give it a go. It might look even better than mine 😉
I have a few vintage moulds kicking around as well. Veggie blancmange is a great idea – I’ll have to try this out. And chocolate vinegar??? WOW! Must try!
Now I’ve given it a whirl Kate, I shall try again. The vinegar, both the chocolate and vanilla, I got from Fancy Pantry at Skylark Farm and will feature in a future round-up. However, I have also made my own chocolate balsamic which is rather good too. /2012/09/honeyed-fig-goats-cheese-tarts-with/
This looks wonderful! I am so intrigued with that vanilla vinegar. Does it taste like vinegar or vanilla?
Thanks Angie. The vanilla vinegar tastes of both vinegar and vanilla, but it also has a some sugar in it, so is slightly sweet too. It’s actually very nice, though I’m not convinced it needs the sugar. It’s one from Fancy Pantry at Skylark Farm.
This looks amazing, by too much agar agar was it like a rubber welly? I haven’t had Blancmange since I was a kid (for the same reasons). I remember my mum made the packet strawberry one and served it unset with chocolate concrete!
Oh dear Rachel, not happy memories then. This wasn’t quite that bad, but it was definitely firmer than I’d have liked.
This looks so beautiful! Like Tracy, I thought blancmange was made with cornflour. Either way, you’ve inspired me to have a go at this delicious and neglected dessert. Yum!
Thanks Helen. You’re right, this was a queen of desserts at one time and it’s a shame it’s fallen from grace as it’s rather a good one and doesn’t need to be laden with cream either.
I’ve never eaten blancmange! Absolutely loving the vintage mould – how fabulous!
Thanks Roz. It’s funny how things turn around. I remember looking down my nose at such moulds when I was young – too passé!
I have a collection of vintage jelly moulds too, but I haven’t used any yet. Blancmange sounds great. My mum / Nan always made it with cornflour instead of gelatine / agar agar – have you tried that? I might give it a go as I imagine it would set more softly (but may not come out of the mould in one easy piece).
Ah, that’s interesting Tracy, though I quite like the idea of making a dessert that doesn’t use starch. However, it sounds like you need to give one or two or your moulds an airing, so let me know how you get on 🙂
Looks lovely! It’s hard to get the ‘tight’ amount of agar agar isn’t it? I’ve had a few rubber bullet moments, but generally I like it! Blancmange moulds are so lovely too, you can use them for a few different things – Fanny did anyway!
He he, it wasn’t quite as bad as a rubber bullet, but definitely needs to be a bit softer. What else did fanny use the moulds for? I’m intrigued.