Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff. From how stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm morn vogel bomb. And if you've ever eaten in
Speaker 1: a cafeteria or attended a cookout or family reunion in
Speaker 1: the United States, chances are good that you're dessert or
Speaker 1: salad options included some form of flavored gelatine, perhaps from
Speaker 1: the brand name Jello. Hundreds of recipes use flavored gelatine
Speaker 1: to create everything from your simple institutional style squares to
Speaker 1: rinate designs that incorporate varied flavors, fruit and whipped toppings.
Speaker 1: Jello and similar mixes consist of five basic ingredients gelatine, water,
Speaker 1: sugar or artificial sweetener, flavorings, and food coloring. The gelatine
Speaker 1: is what allows you to mold the stuff into whatever
Speaker 1: shape you like, solid room temperature, but melt in your mouth.
Speaker 1: But let's break down why gelatine behaves that way. Gelatine
Speaker 1: is a processed version of a structural protein called collagen
Speaker 1: that occurs in many animals bodies, including humans, called and
Speaker 1: makes up almost one third of all the protein in
Speaker 1: the human body. It's a fibrous protein that strengthens the
Speaker 1: body's connective tissue and allows them to be elastic, that is,
Speaker 1: to stretch without breaking. As you get older, your body
Speaker 1: makes less collagen, and individual collagen fibers become increasingly cross
Speaker 1: linked with each other. One might experience this as stiff
Speaker 1: joints due to less flexible tendons, or wrinkles due to
Speaker 1: the loss of skin elasticity. Gelatin can also be made
Speaker 1: from the collagen in the bones, hides, and connective tissues
Speaker 1: of cows or pigs. Today, the gelatin and jello is
Speaker 1: most likely to come from pig skin. Collagen does not
Speaker 1: dissolve in water in its natural forms, so it must
Speaker 1: be modified to make gelatin. Manufacturers grind the animal parts
Speaker 1: and treat them with either a strong acid or a
Speaker 1: strong base to dissolve the collagen. Then the pre treated
Speaker 1: material is boiled. Controls every step of the process and
Speaker 1: sure purity and safety. The materials are washed and filtered repeatedly.
Speaker 1: During this process, the large collagen protein ends up being
Speaker 1: partially broken down. The resulting product is a gelatin solution.
Speaker 1: That solution is chilled into a jelly like material, then
Speaker 1: cut and dried in a special chamber. At this point,
Speaker 1: the dried gelatin, about ten percent water, is ground. If
Speaker 1: it's going to make a flavor gelatine product like jello.
Speaker 1: You'll be ground into a fine powder. When you buy
Speaker 1: a box of whatever brand of flavored gelatine at the
Speaker 1: grocery store, you get a small packet of the powdered
Speaker 1: gelatin with a sweetener, flavorings, and colors added at room temperature.
Speaker 1: The gelatin protein is in the form of a triple helix,
Speaker 1: and this is a fairly ordered structure, not entirely unlike
Speaker 1: that of DNA. With DNA, two chains of nucleotides are
Speaker 1: twisted together in a spiral pattern, resembling a ladder. It's
Speaker 1: a design known as a double helix. In the gelatin protein,
Speaker 1: three separate chains of amino acids called polypeptide chains have
Speaker 1: lined up and twisted around each other. So to make
Speaker 1: this dried gelatin able to fill out and take the
Speaker 1: shape of a mold, you first add boiling water to
Speaker 1: the powdered gelatin. You then stir the mixture for about
Speaker 1: three minute until the gelatine dissolves completely. But what happens
Speaker 1: to gelatine when you add that boiling water. The energy
Speaker 1: of the heated water breaks the weak bonds that hold
Speaker 1: the gelatine strands together, their helical structure unwinds and you're
Speaker 1: left with free floating protein chains. Next, you add cold
Speaker 1: water and refrigerate the gelatine mixture, which makes the chains
Speaker 1: begin to slowly reform into their tight triple helix structures.
Speaker 1: As it cools, the mass acts like a sponge, soaking
Speaker 1: up the water that you added, But in some places
Speaker 1: there are gaps in the helix, and in others there's
Speaker 1: a tangled web of these polypeptide chains. The chains form
Speaker 1: a sort of net, and the net traps water inside
Speaker 1: pockets between the chains. This protein net is strong enough
Speaker 1: that the gelatine will hold the shape into which it's
Speaker 1: been molded, but because of the water trapped in the pockets,
Speaker 1: the mold has that characteristic jiggle. But gelatine isn't just
Speaker 1: for making fun molded salads or desserts. Gelatine is a
Speaker 1: common ingredient in foods. Because it's so versatile, it can
Speaker 1: also be used as a thicken to give foods a
Speaker 1: more pleasing texture, into emulsify or stabilized processed foods like
Speaker 1: yogurt or cake frosting. It's used to clarify juices, vinegars,
Speaker 1: and even beer. Special gelatins are made from only certain
Speaker 1: animals or from fish to meet the standards of folks
Speaker 1: who don't eat products made from the mammals that are
Speaker 1: usually involved, and vegetarian and vegan substitutes made from extracts
Speaker 1: of gooey stuff like seaweed are available to the range
Speaker 1: of those products that gelatin can be found in is legion.
Speaker 1: Everything from dairy and dairy substitute products like sour cream,
Speaker 1: margarine and cream cheese, to sweets like gummy bears and marshmallows,
Speaker 1: to process meats like sausage and canned ham, to soup sauces, gravies, jellies,
Speaker 1: and even whipped cream. It's the coating for pills that
Speaker 1: makes them easier to swallow. It's in some lozenges and ointments,
Speaker 1: and cosmetics may contain a form of gelatin that doesn't
Speaker 1: gell You might see it on the label as hydrolyzed collagen.
Speaker 1: And gelatins aren't just used in foods and health and
Speaker 1: cosmetic products. It's also commonly used in the manufacture of
Speaker 1: photographic films and papers, uch heads, sand paper, glossy printing papers,
Speaker 1: playing cards, and simulated human tissue for testing guns and ammunition,
Speaker 1: and for forensic science. It's even sometimes used to hold
Speaker 1: down the hair of synchronized swimmers in place. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Linda C. Brinson and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other well jelled topics,
Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com.