Champagne Gulaman (jelly) is the way to go if you are ever in the position of having a bottle of champagne left over.Â
Gulaman
Gulaman is made from a red seaweed found in the waters of the Philippines. It’s also known as agar-agar – the vegan substance that turns food into jelly. In the Philippines the extract is then dried and formed into long rectangular blocks. You can get agar-agar flakes at wholefoods or on amazon.
To use them you hydrate them in the liquid you want to turn into jelly. To activate the hardening powers of the gulaman it needs to be boiled for a minute or two. You can leave it to stand at room temperature and it will still turn into jelly.
Champagne Gulaman (Jelly) with Mango and Mint
I have a slight obsession with alcoholic jelly as this is my third jelly recipe. These were my two previous ones:
You see I had to do something with a bottle of champagne I didn’t really care to drink. It was way to bitter and way to bubbly for me to keep drinking it. Then I thought – oh hey I can turn it into jelly and slowly work my way through the bottle in a different way.
I had some mangoes and mint in the fridge and I all of a sudden I had an upscale dessert in no time. I poured that champagne in a sauce pan and added some maple syrup to sweeten it up. Once I had the seasoning down I added 2 tablespoons of agar-agar and let it go up to a running boil for a minute.
I took it off the heat and then strained it into a bowl to cool down a little before pouring it into some champagne coups and glasses.
Serve it up
To serve just slice some fresh mangoes and garnish with some mint leaves. Done and done.