White Currant and Prosecco Gelatin 

You know when you are shopping at the Farmers Market and something catches your eye and before you know it, you’ve bought some fruit that you’re not even sure you can identify, much less cook with? Yeah, me too, ha! Recently, these beautiful white currants sparkled at me and I couldn’t resist taking them home. After researching a bit, I decided that I didn’t want to make the traditional white currant jelly called Bar-Le-Duc (look it up, it involves de-seeding with goose quills!) and instead went with a quicker gelatin dessert. I had agar powder in the pantry, which is a good vegan substitute for unflavored gelatin. It’s easy to scale this recipe, 1/2 tsp of agar powder will gel 1/2 cup of liquid, so if you only have 1 cup of Prosecco in your fridge, you can still have a fancy dessert!

1 cup Prosecco or white grape juice

2 Tbsp sugar (more or less to taste)

1 tsp agar powder

about 1/2 cup white currants, de-stemmed

In a small saucepan, stir together the Prosecco or juice, sugar and agar powder and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes so that the sugar and agar are completely dissolved. Pour into molds or small glasses, and add the currants (they will float). Cool on the counter for 15 minutes, then refrigerate to fully set. Serves 2.