Gelatin and the brand name “jell-o” are often used interchangeably. While both are made from hydrolyzed collagen, a protein found in animal products, jello typically has added ingredients, like flavoring and sugar.
What is Gelatin?
Gelatin is a large coiled protein that comes from the connective tissue of animals. When collagen is added into warm water, it becomes hydrolyzed**, which means the large coiled collagen proteins are broken into smaller parts, called gelatin.
**Hydrolysis is the break down of a compound by chemical reaction with water.
Hydro=water
Lysis=to break apart
The smaller gelatin proteins once in a warm liquid will be able to move around easily. However, if you cool the liquid down, the gelatin can no longer move around as easily, and will eventually begin to get stuck to each other. When the gelatin proteins begin to stick to one another, they form pockets which trap fluid inside making the jelly texture that we are all familiar with. If you decide to warm up a set gelatin mixture, the gelatin will temporarily lose its structure and return to a liquid state, but will return back to a solid if it gets back to a cool enough temperature.
Why did people eat so much jello in the 50’s?
If you’ve ever flipped through mid-century cookbooks, you’ve probably come across an unsettling image of gelatin incased vegetables, or the rare piece of meat suspended in jelly solution. So why was gelatin the staple of vintage stomach turning meals?
There are two terms when referring to gelatin in a dish: aspic, and jello.
Aspic is a term used for a savory jelly made with meat stock, set in a mold and used to contain pieces of meat, seafood, or eggs. (If this trend ever makes a comeback, I will definitely not be jumping on the aspic egg train…)
Jello is a trademarked name, but is generally used to describe all gelatins that have added sweeteners and are typically eaten as a desert.
Like we learned earlier, in order to have a gelatin set, the mixture needs to be cooled. In the early 1950’s refrigerators were still pretty expensive, and were needed to easily make jello molds. So being able to serve a jello centerpiece at a dinner party was somewhat of a status symbol.
While the intricate jello mold was seen as a symbol of wealth, ingredients involved in making the molds were typically inexpensive and utilized leftovers and canned goods.
Laura Shapiro a food historian, explained that during the mid century, middle class women began to welcome the new industrialized products into their homes. These new products would make their domestic work much easier, quicker, and cleaner. “The spirit of domestic reform embraced efficiency, purity, cleanliness, and order.”
Jello salads were everything a middle class housewife wanted in a meal; quick, efficient, has order, and is clean.
Through more innovation, quicker, cleaner, and more efficient meals(microwave TV dinners) began to phase out jello salads.
But gelatin has not been phased out of cooking all together. Since gelatin has such unique properties when being used in cooking, especially in the community of chefs that dabble in gastronomy. One of my favorite applications of gelatin is used in a soup dumpling recipe. Where a gelatin set stock will be cut up into cubes and added to dumpling dough. As the dumplings cook the gelatin melts and creates a savory soup wrapped up inside a dumpling.
