Textual Chef Textual Chef

Grass Jelly

A traditional herbal gel dessert made from dried grass jelly herb with a cooling, mild taste. Serve chilled with simple syrup or fresh fruit.

65 minMediumServes 425 cal/serving

ChineseDessertStovetopVeganVegetarianLow CarbHalal-friendlyKosher-styleGluten-FreeNut-FreeDairy-FreeSoy-FreeEgg-FreeShellfish-FreeSesame-FreeLow-SodiumLow-SugarPork-FreeAlcohol-FreeNightshade-Free

Ingredients

  • 3 oz dried grass jelly herb, rinsed
  • 8 cups water
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup cold water

Instructions

  1. 1

    Combine 3 oz rinsed dried grass jelly herb, 8 cups water, and 1/2 tsp baking soda in a large pot.

  2. 2

    Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes.

  3. 3

    Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot, pressing the herbs to extract liquid.

  4. 4

    Whisk 3 tbsp cornstarch into 1/4 cup cold water in a small bowl until smooth.

  5. 5

    Bring the strained herbal liquid back to a boil, then whisk in the cornstarch slurry.

  6. 6

    Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes while stirring constantly until thickened.

  7. 7

    Pour the mixture into a glass dish and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours until set.

Questions

How long does Grass Jelly keep?

Keep it covered in the refrigerator and eat it within three days.

Can I halve or double Grass Jelly?

Yes. As written it serves 4. Every ingredient in this entry carries precomputed half and double quantities, and the app's batch dial rewrites them inside each step. When doubling on the stovetop, use your widest pan or work in two batches so the food sears instead of steaming.

Serve it with

Cook this free in the app

Textual Chef is 4,525 plain-text recipes, free to read and free to cook from. No account, no paywall, no ads, no life stories. Open this one in the app and each quantity sits inside the step that uses it, so you read once and cook.

Every recipe is curated or public-domain sourced, written to one template and checked before it publishes. Nothing here is a scraped blog post.

Cook this free in the appNo download needed. It opens in your browser. The kitchen tools (planner, shopping list, pantry, import) are $5.33 a month billed annually; the first 30 days are free.