How To: Clone a Banana with Jello

Mold making is pretty thrilling—the ability to replicate objects right down to every little crack and crevice seems like something only a machine would be able to do. But in many cases creating a replica from a mold is surprisingly simple. Found on Tasteologie, La Receta de la Felicidad presents a fun alternative to the classic Jello jiggler. For a Dada-esque dessert, try using a banana peel as your mold. As you can see below, it works quite well at capturing the natural texture of the banana.

You can find a rough translation of the recipe at La Receta de la Felicidad, but the process is fairly simple, so I made a quick adaptation below using standard Jello mix.

Ingredients

• 8 Bananas
• 2 Boxes of Strawberry Jello Mix (approximately)

Instructions

The original recipes calls for Jello made from scratch, but if you're short on time, try Jello mix. Follow the instructions on the box. The amount above is an estimate—you may want to buy several boxes and mix them up one box at a time to fill your desired amount of banana peels. 

First, prep your banana peels. Make a precise, thin cut along one side of each of your bananas, but not all the way down. You want to create a "cup" with an open top and a sealed bottom. Carefully remove the flesh without damaging the peels—you may need to use a knife, or carefully cut the flesh in sections, or simply squeeze (carefully).

Set the intact peels aside, and use the flesh for something else. (Fruit salad? Banana peanut butter sandwich? Banana nutella crepe? It's up to you.)

Prepare your Jello mixture: Combine the powder and water, and stir well. Now you are ready to poor the mixture into the banana peels. You will need some sort of brace to hold the bananas in place. A tall narrow glass should work just fine. Once the bananas are filled, place them in the refrigerator to cool for the amount of time indicated in your Jello mix instructions.