Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Food In Singapore 14: Almond Jelly

Now I am going to blog about an uncommon desert in Singapore, Almond Jelly.



Intro and making the Jelly
Almond Jelly is a desert whereby a jelly of almond (that looks like tofu, thus the other name of the dish is almond tofu) suspends some wolfberry in the centre of the jelly. In the traditional recipe, the primary ingredient (almond) used is southern Chinese almond, or sweet Chinese almond. Almond milk is then extracted with the help of a machine, sweetened, and heated with a gelling agent such as agar. The mixture is then chilled, when it solidifies into the gelatin desert of Almond Jelly.

Interestingly, there is also instant mix almond jelly available in supermarkets. It is an almond-flavored soy-based powder, which dissolves in hot water and solidifies into sweetened soft tofu upon cooling.



Personal Opinion
Truth to be told, I have eaten this dish only at people’s wedding, and I’ve never bought it on my own. I’ve only seen its name on menu’s before. And because of that, I have decided to call this desert “uncommon”, as seen from the first sentence of this blog post.

The reason why I rarely eat this dish is because I don’t really like almonds. I feel that almond has a really strong taste that does not suit me. Even when almond is not concentrated, I find the strong taste of it unbearable. Thus, I feel that for this desert, the almond taste of it must not be too strong. If it is too strong, the person eating the desert will get put off.

Another reason why I don’t like this dish is because of its visual appeal. It looks simple, and pretty much boring. It’s just a white jelly with wolfberry in the middle. The looks alone make me think that it’s a boring and tasteless dish. (But looks can be deceiving, as seen from the REAL taste of the dish).

Food for Thought

I believe that for this dish, wolfberry is added to make the dish look nicer (more colourful) and to make the desert taste better. What other effects do you think that wolfberry has on the dish?

Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almond_jelly
http://www.grampianspyreneespcp.org.au/Image/Agency%20Logos/Food%20For%20Thought%20Logo%20Reversed.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuuBwHuVmuMDP5uexSo83CbmCYdNcOJyZ7OJNKGvj2I7vXMQTDW2ZvOqxnk9zbUEkqZYX4Y3u3RZ0Z_y82BH5BamwINu84AvOyXL3O25r3vPQOesWVJGpeNgdzM-1e1D2Lm88aFlufrCg/s400/almond+jelly.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Almond_jelly.jpg