Homemade Citrus Jell-O

Easy. Zingy. Jiggly.

Hi friends,

Hallelujah, it’s citrus season: the silver (orange?) lining of what is an otherwise very bleak moment for fresh produce. Fortunately, there’s a lot of great citrus coming from California, Arizona, and Texas (and Italy, and Spain, and Mexico, and Brazil, etc.), and lots of great things—both savory and sweet—that you can do with it. But today, we’re focusing on one of them: JELL-O.

Several years ago, Fanny became obsessed with developing recipes for healthy, cold-pressed, fruit and vegetable Jell-Os. While this project did not, in fact, become her raison d'être, she did come away with some very valuable intel on what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to homemade Jell-O: far and away, the most delicious recipes were the ones made with citrus. (The kale ones were gross. No surprise there.)

As far as we know, there are more than 1,000 different edible citrus fruits, the result of centuries of hybridizing. Every orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, tangelo, yuzu, bergamot, kumquat, Buddha’s Hand (look it up, it’s wild), and grapefruit is a hybrid descended from four ancestral wild species, endlessly bred with one another to coax out different flavors, acidity levels, colors, aromas, seediness, and peel-ability.

The Jell-O recipe below is for a smallish batch, but if you’re looking for an extra colorful array of treats, try making a couple separate batches using different citruses: for instance, Cara Cara Orange (pink), Blood Orange (red), Orange or Tangerine (bright orange), Meyer Lemon (yellow), etc. A mix of all of the above is equally delightful. The bottom line here is to riff and mix and have fun—this is one of those “kitchen projects” that is special enough to attract some extra helping hands, but fast and simple enough that the adults won’t resent the endeavor halfway through.

We’ve also included a few of our favorite quick savory citrus recipes for parents + children alike.

All hail citrus season,

Fanny + Greta