I have always loved the idea of fruit caviar, it’s so elegant and beautiful. If you want to really impress, adding a little of this to any dessert is an easy way to do it. My problem with fruit caviar is that in most recipes it uses ingredients like agar agar which is not something I would normally keep in my pantry. For me, the best recipes use ingredients that can be used in multiple recipes so it wont sit around and take up space. Honestly, I’ve never thought of another use for agar agar so I’ve held off on trying fruit caviar.
Until now! I’m so excited about the results of this pomegranate caviar and it only uses 3 ingredients. That’s right, 3! Unflavored gelatin, pomegranate juice, and vegetable oil. So easy, right? Plus, it’s all items that you probably already have in your pantry (or if you need to buy it then it’s super cheap and readily available). So why pomegranate juice instead of any other fruit? Well, for starters I love pomegranates with a passion. When they are in season I eat one every day (I even planted my own tree!) and could never get sick of them. Secondly, the color is amazing, so rich and dark. For me, you eat with your eyes as much as your mouth, so the pop of this dark red color was appealing to me against whipped cream or frosting (spoiler alert for our delicious dessert we used this on, stay tuned for the recipe!) because it will cause a nice dramatic look. Thirdly, I wanted a fruit caviar that bursts with flavor and didn’t get lost in all the other ingredients you might serve it with.
Therefore, pomegranate was an easy choice. The color is right, it’s got a concentrated flavor (that is readily available at any grocery store), and it’s good for you. When testing different fruits for this caviar, I started with frozen strawberries (too watery and the color was weak) and fresh blueberries (the consistency was off but the color was great). With these recipes I blended the fruits, strained the seeds, added lemon juice and sugar, boiled, simmered, and cooled and you know what? It’s too much work for what I was going for. So my thought is how to do this in the easiest way with the best results and here you have it, 3 ingredient Pomegranate Caviar. Feel free to test with other fruit juices, but I would make sure they are as concentrated as possible to get the best flavor in your caviar.
For this recipe I tried a small squeeze bottle and mini pipettes to make the caviar. The squeeze bottle’s nozzle was way too big for the liquid, resulting in not only a mess but really inconsistent caviar sizes. I ended up using these pipettes and they worked great, plus I love that they are disposable making clean up a breeze. I also used these tweezers set to help place the caviar for decoration because with how small they are, it’s really difficult to control where they are going without making a mess.
Ingredients
- 1 .25 oz unflavored gelatin packet
- 4 oz Pomegranate Juice
- 1 cup vegetable oil chilled
- 1 tbsp salt
Instructions
- Place vegetable oil in freezer a few hours prior to starting caviar.
- Mix gelatin packet and 1.5 ounces cold pomegranate juice together until gelatin is well combined.
- Microwave 2.5 ounces pomegranate juice for 30 seconds. Add to gelatin and mix well until all the gelatin is dissolved. Set aside for about 5 minutes, until mixture cools down (about room temperature).
- Now you need two containers, one larger than the other to make an ice bath. Metal works best for this since it will cool better and faster. In the larger container add ice cubes, salt, and cold water and mix. Place smaller container in ice bath and add vegetable oil.
- Using a pipette, drop gelatin mixture into vegetable oil. Do this slowly, about 4-5 drops per caviar. You will know it’s done because it will start to sink. Make sure to spread out where you are making the caviar because if the sphere are too close together and haven’t set they will combine together.
- After the caviar has set for 2-3 minutes you can remove it from the oil. Strain caviar and put in an airtight container, covered with vegetable oil. Rinse off oil when ready to use.
