Of all the things to teach the younger generations, perhaps this one was near the bottom of the list. So happy we got to it!
One of my nieces, who already makes Jello Shots, helped me with this twist on the alcoholic dessert. Since we didn’t have a handheld juicer, we first squeezed the oranges after cutting them in half. Then we used a tablespoon to remove the pulp although at one point, simply peeling the slices out of the orange was more effective. We saved the pulp so Nanna could use it in her smoothies.
Two challenges arose: we couldn’t squeeze the oranges too hard or the hull would tear. Then we had to leave some of the white stalk and peel in place where the navel was or else there was a hole. Both challenges meant Jello would ooze out of its “container.”
Jello-Filled Orange Hulls
We’d mixed strawberry and orange flavored Jello together with two cups of hot water, followed by two cups of alcohol. For this batch, we mixed a cup of Cointreau with a cup of Rum. My niece was initially concerned that one of the boxes of Jello had expired. None of us older adults were the least bit concerned about that. The way we saw it, the alcohol would cure anything that was “wrong” with expired Jello. Besides, the expiration date mostly meant that stores couldn’t sell it.
Jello Shot Slices
Apparently, we only needed one box of Jello to fill the number of hulls we had. The rest of the Jello mix I poured into a nonstick mini muffin tray. In retrospect, we should have simply drank the remaining Jello as a cocktail because those Jello shots didn’t pop out of the muffin tray intact. We still ate them in a bowl with a spoon.
Next time, I’ll have the proper equipment, and we’ll try using large limes. There is plenty of lime jello in the pantry, so I’m thinking margarita Jello shots. Besides, we can make an actual margarita by repurposing the lime pulp, which will help mitigate our delayed gratification of consuming Jello shots by drinking a homemade batch of margarita.