Ingredient Guide: What Is Lychee Jelly?
Image Credit: Unsplash

Lychee jelly is a tropical lychee fruit-based jiggly jelly treat. It's frequently used as a topping for boba or bubble tea, just like coconut jelly and grass jelly. Lychee jelly can also be eaten as a single-serve confection, a topping for ice cream, or as a solo treat. Lychee jelly is sweet and somewhat tangy, with flowery and tropical lychee flavour overtones. The texture is firm while remaining soft, jiggly, and bouncy. It is frequently thicker than gelatin-based jellies.

Sugar, a thickening ingredient such as nata de coco pulp, and lychee fruit, juice, or artificial flavouring are used to make lychee jelly. Ingredients such as preservatives, stabilisers, and colouring compounds may also be found in commercial products. Lychee jelly may or may not contain lychee fruit. While most lychee jelly served in bubble tea establishments is clear and dairy-free, some homemade recipes include milk, resulting in a creamier, opaque jelly.

Lychee Jelly Applications

Lychee jelly is commonly moulded or chopped into balls or blocks and used as a topping for bubble tea or ice cream, but it is also consumed and served in other ways. Lychee jelly is frequently sold in small, single-serve plastic cups as a delicious treat for children.

Does Lychee Jelly Contain Gelatin?

Gelatin is used in certain recipes for creating lychee jelly at home to obtain the trademark jiggly texture. Gelatin, on the other hand, is not suited for vegans or vegetarians because it is manufactured from animal sources. Agar agar is one alternative for manufacturing your own lychee jelly at home without using animal products. This vegan component is derived from algae and is used to produce a jelly-like texture.

Boba Vs Lychee Jelly- What Is Healthier?

When placing your bubble tea order, think about whether boba or fruit jelly is healthier. Boba, also known as tapioca pearls, are prepared from cassava, a starchy root vegetable similar to tapioca pudding's small balls. Cassava powder is mixed with hot water to make a dough that is then divided into balls. Before being added to your bubble tea, the tapioca pearls are cooked in boiling water and often steeped in a sweetener such as sugar syrup or honey. Lychee jelly, on the other hand, is a sweet dessert jelly flavoured with lychee juice. Tapioca pearls often have less sugar than lychee jelly before heating.