Well, an experiment in the kitchen didn't quite work. I was hoping to have a nice fluffy mousse, but it didn't turn out that way, perhaps I should have looked up a recipe rather than go it alone.

The idea came from a banana and strawberry reduction that thickened when it cooled. I wanted to combine blueberries and strawberries because these are some of my son's favourite fruits. All I can take from this is either there was too much water or it is the banana that thickens the sauce (if you can call it that).

After it didn't thicken I decided to try some kind of thickening agent, so I thought a touch of double cream whipped and folded in. Nope this did not work. Then I tried a chocolate mousse idea, so mixed in 3 egg yolks followed by the whites which had been beaten to soft peaks.

This looked successful after transferring the mixture to ramekins and putting into the fridge, but it did not solidify enough. So it was a runny bubble substance. Flavours however were berry nice.

I thought I'd try my hand at making some chantilly cream. Which seems very simple, the method I used was 10% sugar of the amount of millilitres used (in figures) of double cream, piped onto the top.

Conclusion

The only solution I can think of for setting this mixture is to use gelatine to form a jelly. I wonder if I can form the half cocked mousse then use gelatine to set it! This could be soft and bubbly and be firm. Worth a try I think. I was trying to make it as pure as possible though

Chantilly cream is a winner. 10% sugar for the amount in ml of cream. So 100ml of cream 10g sugar. Not really good for you though!

If you have a suggestion to firm the mixture please email it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or leave a comment.

For Reference

For the the strawberry & blueberry mixture I used 150ml water, 150g blueberries, 150g strawberries.

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