Little treats: Plum and liquorice jelly cups

If you’re a liquorice lover, this fruit jelly is made for you. It’s late summer in a jar with ripe plums, runny honey, apple juice and a touch of aniseed.

Serves 4
4 ripe plums, halved, stones removed
500ml apple juice
2 liquorice sticks (real thing, not the sweet), or 75g natural liquorice (the sweet), plus extra to serve
2 tbsp agar agar flakes
2-4 tbsp runny honey

Method

1 Place plums in a blender with juice and whizz until smooth.

2 Pour into saucepan with liquorice sticks (if using natural liquorice sweets, thinly slice first before adding 50g) and agar agar and heat until agar agar dissolves. Whisk well a few times to help mix everything together.

3 Press through a sieve to strain out any lumpy bits of agar (scrape the bottom of the sieve to reclaim as much as you can) and whisk again.

4 Taste and stir through honey to suit (if using liquorice sweets, add more of these if needed). Reheat gently to help agar dissolve further.

5 Pour into glasses and pop into the fridge for about 1 hour to set. Top with some small chunks of natural liquorice to serve.

Plum and liquorice jelly cups from A Lot on Her Plate by Rosie Birkett (Hardie Grant, £25). Photographs Helen Cathcart

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