Milky Jelly – A Nostalgic Treat

It’s funny how certain types of food go in and out of favour. When you look in vintage magazines, recipe books and adverts the type of food we eat changes as commonly as our choices of outfits. As stockings go out of favour in place of tights and full skirts are replaced by minis so our food choices move with the times. Sometimes this can be a good thing! Some of the foods of the past look truly in-edible but sometimes they give us a sense of happiness from days gone by. Just as you won’t see me wearing some of the more questionable outfit choices of the past, you won’t see me creating some of the more distasteful recipes. The past can however bring a feeling of nostalgia and like fashions some old recipes are more than ready to be resurrected.

One simple thing that we don’t seem to make anymore is milky jelly. I recently had a conversation with my mum in which she talked about eating milky jelly as a child. I also read this blog post by The Diary of a Frugal Family where she describes milky jelly as being ‘like your nan used to make’. It’s interesting to see the nostalgia associated with this simple thing. I understand the feeling. When my dad was little he used to love orange jelly with tinned mandarins in it. My Grandma always remembered this as his favourite treat and even as an adult would make it every time he came round. It’s something that makes me feel happy and brings back happy memories. Something as simple as jelly can bring back happy memories and a sense of the past. I may be over-thinking it but in my opinion jelly is a very special thing.

I personally like making rainbow jellies, I always like to step up and make something special. I probably don’t make it enough and will try more often so my kids can remember ‘mum’s rainbow jelly’. This week I made my fist ever milky jelly in homage to all the nanas of the past who made one specially for visits from their Grandchildren and it was delicious. I really don’t know why we don’t make this more often it’s definitely a delightful tradition I’d like to bring back. It’s also a great way of getting a bit of extra calcium into my kids who don’t drink enough milk as I’d like them to.

How to make milky jelly:

I made mine using raspberry jelly from the super market. I melted the jelly with 1/4 pint of boiling water, I also put the mix in the microwave for 30 seconds to help it dissolve. I then made up the remainder of the pint with milk, mixed well, added it to my mould and left it in the fridge over night. That’s it. So simple and absolutely delicious.

I’ll definitely be making it again as it’s so simple. Will you be giving this one a go?