A Brief History About Jell-O
53875
Food & Beverage
Nov 9, 2007
aabbette
A Brief History About Jell-O
On March 17, 1993, according to the Jell-0 Museum Web page, technicians at St. Jerome Hospital in Batavia, New York, apparently having nothing better to do, hooked an electroencephalograph up to a bowl of lime jell-0. They were amazed, the story goes, to discover that America's favorite gelatin dessert exhibits brain waves "identical" to all adult human being. Unrecorded but obviously relevant is whether the adult human used for comparison happened to work as a technician at St. Jerome Hospital. But while lime Jell-O seems an unlikely candidate for the Nobel Prize in much of anything, it does hold the distinction of being a big hit in Salt Lake City, which consumes more of the green jiggly stuff than any other American metropolis. For a brand name that today is recognized by 95 percent of Americans and found in 66 percent of their homes, Jell-O got off to a rocky start. The first person to patent a gelatin dessert, in 1845, was Peter Cooper, the inventor, manufacturer, and philanthropist best known for pioneering the railroad locomotive in America. But making Cooper's gelatin took the better part of a day and the product was not very popular. A scant fifty years later, however, carpenter and cough medicine purveyor Pearle B. Wait and his wife, May Davis Wait, of LeRoy, New York, fiddled a bit with Cooper's gelatin, and by 1897 had developed easier-to-make strawberry, raspberry, orange, and lemon flavors. A name was needed for the product, and May came through with a winner-Jell-O. Given the spelling "Jell-O," May Wait was probably thinking of jelly, not gelatin, when she dreamed up the name, but the two words share a common root. The Latin gelare means "to freeze," and as it percolated into various later European languages took on the connotation "to congeal" (in fact, congeal itself is a descendant of gelare). Both gelatin and jelly were originally applied to a substance produced by boiling animal bones, skins, etc., to release collagen, which jells into a semisolid as it cools. (Fruit jelly, which does not come from animals, jells because of the pectin in the fruit itself.) Today's gelatin, including that found in Jell-O, comes from the same animal sources but is so rigorously purified that many vegetarians consider Jell-O perfectly acceptable. In subsequent years the Jell-O brand changed hands several times and today is owned by Kraft Foods Inc., which markets more than 150 products under the Jell-O name, including puddings, pie fillings, and Jello-O Pudding Pops. And in January 2001, all that lime finally kicked in and Jell-O was declared the "Official State Snack" of Utah. EEG testing of the Utah legislature might be interesting.
Angela Abbette writes on a variety of subjects, including food and drink articles similar to the ones found at her favorite and best article directory, and http://bestarticles.biz .
send email to aabbette
Write a Review
Add to My Favorite
Refer it to Friend
Report Article
Other links owned by this user
When in doubt, sex it up. Chocolate in various forms had been a fixture of the European diet since it was first imported by Spain from Mexico in the sixteenth century.
Category:
Serious situational events in a child's upbringing can have long term effects resulting from the trauma. But children can overcome these effects.
Category:
The Cracker Jack candy treat has been around for a long time, and even in my own lifetime (some 50 years) not much has changed to this long standing product. Still the box has the familiar sailor boy saluting us with his trusty dog by his side. Can you re
Category:
Jell-o, that jiggly fruit flavored desert that is such a hit with kids, has some interesting historical background.
Category:
Our culture celebrates high achievers, and we are one of the most productive nations in history. Yet many educators agree that underachievement is among the most serious problems facing our schools today, affecting nearly one out of four children.
Category:
Other links at Food & Beverage
Toasters are every kitchens need. We share with you the necessary information that you may require on this subject.
Category:
Barbecue is a slow process of cooking in a low temperature that is about 300-400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 8 to 18 hours. The low temperature creates smoke and it gives barbecue the characteristic flavor.
Category:
If you prefer cheese sliced fresh off the block rather than prepackaged, it's a good guess that you have some kind of cheese slicer located in your cupboard. Although you can cut some harder cheeses very efficiently with a knife, by far, a cheese slicer w
Category:
Do your taste buds itch everytime you watch someone eat? Then this article will inspire you to make cook your own food and enjoy it too!
Category:
As children grew up and interests changed, jump ropes made way for nail polish and eye shadow, while "cooties" made way for asking girls out on movie dates. Things changed and such childish treats as cupcakes were abandoned for other such treats, such as
Category:
Site Sponsor
Directory Statistics
Articles: 68285
Categories: 501
Yahoo Entertainment
