Jell-O. I think that when many people hear that word, some specific memories might pop up in their minds. For me, I think about the Jell-O dessert my dad makes for Thanksgiving. I think about how my grandma’s Jell-O always had that rubbery film on the top that was pretty gross. And of course, the occasional Jell-O shot at the bars with my friends.
Today we are going to try out seven different flavors of Jell-O and see which one really hits the spot.
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Which Jell-O flavors are we trying today?
Strawberry
Lemon
Berry Blue
Orange
Grape
Cherry
Raspberry
Who is on this seasonal quest?
Alan, teacher’s pet.
Nate, oversharing today.
Matt, middle of the road.
Amy, watch out for Jell-O skin.
And of course, our subscribers! Thanks to our small, yet coveted group. We appreciate the support. You too can join us on this food journey. All you need to do is… SUBSCRIBE!
The History of Jell-O
If you want to know about Jell-O, known as “America’s Most Famous Dessert”, you first should know a bit about gelatin. A Frenchman named Denis Papin is an original when it comes to discovering the substance. In 1682, he was experimenting with removing the glutinous material from animal bones by boiling it. He discovered it had no taste, odor, or color, but was pure protein. But despite this discovery, it wouldn’t be manufactured until the mid 1700s.
But when would it become the flavored, jiggly dessert kids and adults near and far enjoy? Well, in 1845, Peter Cooper secured the patent for a gelatin dessert powder called Portable Gelatin, requiring only the addition of hot water. But he sat on the patent for 50 years, not doing much with it at all. In 1895, Pearle Wait, a cough syrup maker bought the patent from Peter Cooper
Pearle and his wife May experimented with the powdered gelatin, adding different fruit syrups, and came up with a fruit flavored dessert which May named JELL-O. Realizing he had something good, Pearle tried to market his product but lacked the capital and marketing know-how. In 1899 he sold the trademark for $450 to Frank Woodward. Sales were slow for the new product. Woodward decided to launch an advertising campaign using the slogan, “America’s most favorite Dessert.” He plastered the brand all over pictures, posters, billboards, magazines. The campaign put recipes in magazines and were distributed across the United States. Over 15 million Jell-O recipe booklets were printed and distributed. Norman Rockwell provided colored illustrations. The advertising campaign proved so successful that sales in 1902 were $250,000. (this amounts to almost $9,000,000 today)
Today Jell-O is the largest selling prepared dessert and is known worldwide.
Some fun facts about Jell-O
The first flavors of Jell-O were Orange, Lemon, Raspberry, and Strawberry.
Utah consumes more Jell-O than any other state. It is also their official state food.
Jell-O is apparently very popular among the Mormons. Sales figures released by Kraft Foods revealed that Salt Lake City Utah to have the highest per-capita JELL-O consumption. In fact, the Mormon Corridor region in Utah has been nicknamed the “Jell-O Belt”.
For the 2002 Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, a commemorative pin was made featuring a big bowl of green Jell-O.
In the movie The Wizard of Oz, the horse of a different color was 6 different horses, each of them tinted a different color using Jell-O.
In the 1960s, Jell-O released savory and vegetable flavors such as celery, mixed vegetable, Italian Salad, and tomato. Many of the Jell-O recipes of the day included ingredients like cabbage, celery, green peppers, or cooked pasta. For example, one recipe recommends adding a can of tuna, tomato, hard boiled eggs, olives, green peppers, onions, Italian dressing, and lettuce to the Mixed Vegetable or Celery Jell-O.
Some other retired flavors include cola, chocolate, coffee, sparkling white grape and apple.
Jell-O is nearly 90% sugar.
The most popular flavor is Strawberry.
The Results
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Listen to the episode first if you do not want the results revealed to you yet!
7th/6th Place (tie): Strawberry
Alan -5
Amy -4
Matt -5
Nate -3
7th/6th Place (tie): Grape
Alan -5
Amy -6
Matt -5
Nate -2
5th/4th Place (tie!): Berry Blue
Alan -7
Amy -6
Matt -4
Nate -2
5th/4th Place (tie!): Raspberry
Alan -6
Amy -5
Matt -5
Nate -3
3rd Place: Lemon
Alan -7
Amy -4
Matt -5
Nate -5
2nd Place: Orange
Alan -8
Amy -5
Matt -5
Nate -4
1st Place: Cherry
Alan -6
Amy -7
Matt -6
Nate -5
There you have it. Cherry Jell-O receives the Quest for the Best seal of approval.
Thank you all for joining us on this episode of Quest for the Best. Let us know what you thought. Which is your favorite Jell-O flavor? We would love to hear your rating!
Also, do you have any foods you would love to get the coveted seal of approval? Let us know in the comments what you want to hear next.
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Show Notes:
https://whatscookingamerica.net/history/jell-0-history.htm
https://www.jellogallery.org/history.html
https://www.mashed.com/1011933/discontinued-jell-o-flavors-youll-never-get-to-try/
J-E-L-L-O time