Jelly: Yearlstone and raspberry jelly

(Jason Lowe)

Serves 4

Behind Brian's house and over the stream is the Yearlstone Vineyard, the oldest vineyard in Devon. The vineyard was started up in 1976 and is now owned by Roger and Juliet White. We took a selection of the Yearlstone wines back to sample with our picnic and we were most impressed with the 2006 sparkling brut, which would sit happily alongside other international sparkling wines that I've tasted – including some of the great prosceccos.

Anyway, what with me being a jelly freak and always looking for new inspiration, I thought I should go to task and get making a jelly from the local wine and raspberries that Brian picked up from the farmers' market.

150g caster sugar
5 sheets leaf gelatine
350ml 2006 Yearlstone brut or another similar
120g soft fruit such as raspberries, sliced strawberries, blueberries, redcurrants

Bring 200ml of water to the boil. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved, then remove from heat. Soak the gelatine leaves in a shallow bowl of cold water for a minute or so until soft. Squeeze out the water and add the gelatine to the syrup along with the wine. Stir until fully dissolved.

Put the jelly somewhere cool, but don't let it set. Fill individual jelly moulds, or one large one, with half the berries, then pour in half of the cooled jelly. Put in the fridge for an hour or so to set, then top up with the rest of the berries and unset jelly. This allows the berries to stay suspended and not float to the top. Return to the fridge. To serve, turn out, and offer thick Jersey cream to go with it.

Mark Hix will be at the Taste of London festival ( tastelondon.co.uk) in Regent's Park today, where he'll be giving a talk and signing copies of his book, 'British Regional Food', at the Waterstones Book Lounge