1 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: America's most famous dessert. There's always room for jell. Hello, 2 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: my name is Ben. Oh. Yeah, that's gonna take me 3 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 1: a minute to wrap my head around. It's not worth it. No, 4 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: it is worth it. You you you kind of just 5 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: broke my brain. Um. But I guess I'm Noel, and 6 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: I think this is ridiculous history. And today we're talking 7 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 1: about jello, but not just any jello. I mean we're 8 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,239 Speaker 1: gonna cook, We're gonna run the gamut of of all 9 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: gelatinous products, but specifically today we're talking about meat jello. 10 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,279 Speaker 1: It's a real thing, and it's something that you and 11 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: I and our superproducer Casey Pegrum have talked about off 12 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: air in the past before we even started doing this show, 13 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: which is amazing when you think about it. Uh, you 14 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 1: and I and Casey and probably some of you friends 15 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: and neighbors have a preoccupation, a morbid fascination with gelatin. Yeah, 16 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: it's true. I mean I have a very distinct memory 17 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: from my childhood. Um, and it was my mother really 18 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: pride herself on doing these very elegant table settings, and 19 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: she carried on this tradition from her mother who always 20 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: used to make a little side dish with the alarmingly 21 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,759 Speaker 1: odd name of Gentleman's salad. What is this gentleman's salad? 22 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,199 Speaker 1: You might ask? What is this gentleman salad? I thought 23 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: you might ask. I'll tell you what it is. Ben 24 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: is a thing that was very in all the rage 25 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: of the highest fashion in the fifties and sixties, mid 26 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: century and beyond. Um fell out of fashion closer to 27 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: the late seventies and early eighties. But we'll get to that. 28 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: But what entleman salad is is a molded, gelatinous I 29 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: don't know if it's a dessert. It's not really served 30 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: in the place of a dessert. It's sort of a 31 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: pre meal thing like you'd eat a salad. But it's 32 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: not a leafy green No, it's a weird little gelatinous 33 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: mound of lime green stuff that's kind of full of nuts, 34 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: chopped nuts and marshmallows, I want to say, and topped 35 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: with a dollop of crem fresh or horse radish if 36 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,639 Speaker 1: you want to get spicy, exactly. And it's one of 37 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: these things that as a kid, my mom insisted that 38 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:39,359 Speaker 1: I take a bite, even though I just it was 39 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: just one of those things I just didn't trust my 40 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: little kid brain kind of recoiled at it um. It 41 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: didn't taste awful that the I avoided the horse radish, 42 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: but that was apparently I was missing out on the 43 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: full impact of the dish. But this was a thing, 44 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: and not just meat jello, but jello and general Gelatin 45 00:02:55,240 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 1: salads was a very easy way for cooks to show 46 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: kind of like opulence and and class and elegance. And 47 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 1: today we often think of a salad as something with 48 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: leafy greens, right, with fresh herbs, fresh vegetables, a little 49 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,239 Speaker 1: bit of cheese, and maybe some protein in the form 50 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: of nazor tune or whatever. But a salad essentially is 51 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,919 Speaker 1: only a mixture of different ingredients. So when we're saying 52 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: gelatin salad, we are accurately describing this strange phenomenon of 53 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: throwing everything and the kitchen sink into gelatin. And gelatine 54 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: is a very strange thing when you think about it. 55 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: We know that it's ancient. We know that traces of 56 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: gelatine were found in ancient Egypt, and we generally in 57 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: the West trace the use of gelatine as a food 58 00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:00,040 Speaker 1: stuff to medieval England. That's right, I actually found a 59 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: gelatin recipe from seventy seven from a London cookbook um 60 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: from an author by the name of Hannah Glass. And 61 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: we'll go into a little bit more of the modern 62 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: ways of making gelatine, But this is is the old 63 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 1: school way. I'm gonna read this verbatim because it is delightful. 64 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: So first take out the great bones of four calves 65 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: feet and put the feet into a pot with ten 66 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: quarts of water, three ounces of horse shorn, three ounces 67 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: of iceland glass, a nutmeg quartered, four blades of mace. 68 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: Then boil this till it comes to two quarts and 69 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: strain it through a flannel bag. Let it stand twenty 70 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: four hours. Then scrape all the fat from the top 71 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: very clean, then slice it and put to it the 72 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: whites of six eggs beaten to froth. Boil it a 73 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: little and strain it again through a flannel bag. Then 74 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: run the jelly into little high glasses. You may add orange, 75 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: flower water, or wine, and sugar and lemon if you please, 76 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 1: But this is all fancy. As you can see. We 77 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: are fans of collecting recipes from olden days, and we 78 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: have found that the measurements get kind of iffy and 79 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: ad hockey. But this is This is a real recipe. 80 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: And if you have these calves hooves or some orange water. 81 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: Was that orange water or sugar? It was orange flower water, 82 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: orange flower water. If you have this, please feel free 83 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,360 Speaker 1: to make it. Please send us pictures. I know all 84 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: three of us would love to see it. Nowadays we 85 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: use the term jello synonymously with gelatine, but Jello is 86 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: a name brand with a history of its own. Uh. 87 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: The mix up here, The conflation is similar to the 88 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 1: way that people say google as a verb when they're 89 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: referring to any Internet or like X for any kind 90 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: of tissue, or like xerox for copiers. Gelatin itself brand 91 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: names aside is a transluse sense, colorless and flavorless thing 92 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: on its own, and you make it using collagen from 93 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,240 Speaker 1: various animal parts, as we saw in our recipe with 94 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: calve's hooves. It's not just used in food. It's commonly 95 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: used as a jelling agent in food, but it's used 96 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: in a bunch of non food applications as well, photography, 97 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: vitamin capsules, and the way it's made today is obviously 98 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: much more of an industrial process. And just to kind 99 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,279 Speaker 1: of give you the quick and dirty of how it's 100 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: made today. It's made using largely washed pig skins that 101 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: are then cleaned. Actually found a video online where it 102 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: shows the process in reverse, uh, from a nice little 103 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: gummy bear being popped into someone's mouth backward to all 104 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: the different steps of the manufacturing process until it ends 105 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 1: up with a cute little piggy looking you in the eye. 106 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 1: I think it was kind of designed to make you 107 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: feel bad about eating gummies. But we're not here to 108 00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: tell you what to do. We are here to tell 109 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 1: you how jell to this mate. So these cleaned pig 110 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: skins are washed and then they are soaked and they're 111 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: given an acid treatment, and the idea is to break 112 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: down the tissues so that the collagen is kind of 113 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: made into smaller chunks in these strands of gelatine that 114 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: they call it gelatine noodles. In the manufacturing process, they 115 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: thicken when they're cooled, and then various stages of hot 116 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: water extraction is done, and it's done up to six 117 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: or seven times, with the temperature of the water um 118 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: being raised for every step UM and the earliest extractions 119 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: are apparently the more powerful, or I guess they hold 120 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: their shape better and the subsequent extractions, it becomes a 121 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: little bit weaker. And one of the things that baffles 122 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: us about this process is that most people growing up 123 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: don't know the gelatine or your favorite flavor of jello 124 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: does derive ultimately from these animal proteins. I think, you know, 125 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: it's not quite on the level of Santa Claus spoiler 126 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: alert everybody, but I think a lot of kids have 127 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: no understanding of the origin of gelatine that we just 128 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: walked through. And today we're asking why jello and gelatine 129 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: fiend food dishes became so prevalent for a time. It 130 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 1: was a fat They rose and they fell, and you 131 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: can find different cookbooks or different articles citing this rise. 132 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: But we wanted to track down the answer. And I 133 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:37,319 Speaker 1: want to give a big shout out to Dan Myers 134 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: over at the Daily Meal. In January of last year, 135 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: he tackled this question about why there were so many 136 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: gelatine based dishes in the nineteen fifties and the nineteen sixties. 137 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: And you know, you and I have looked through these 138 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: old recipes and it's true jello today is treated mainly 139 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: as a dessert, but during that time period it it 140 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 1: would be the entire meal. You would have the sweet 141 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: and the savory together in this mold. There's really no 142 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: other way to say it. And those molds themselves were 143 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: staples of mid century kitchens and all kinds of shapes. 144 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: But this goes way way farther back than um the 145 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:22,199 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties and sixties, far back really to medieval England. 146 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:26,959 Speaker 1: And while we're while we're here in the medieval era 147 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: in Western Europe, we need to add a we need 148 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: to add another aspect to the story, another aspect to 149 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:38,720 Speaker 1: the story. I'm proud of that one. So one of 150 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: the one of the most important things about gelatine, aside 151 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: from it being a luxurious food stuff, is that it 152 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: was a pretty effective preserver. We have to remember that 153 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: this was centuries before anything like refrigeration existed totally. And 154 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,959 Speaker 1: also not to mention, an article from history dot com 155 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: called Jiggle It The History of Gelatine's Aspects and jellies Um. 156 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: The writer Nate Barksdale mentioned the fact that you know, 157 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: we've talked about this in the Protestant Information and Butter episode. 158 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays, so 159 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: there were late medieval cooks who came up with ways 160 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: of making jelly out of fish, and that was like 161 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:23,319 Speaker 1: that you would boil fish stock, even use the swim bladders. 162 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: Um and an eels were ways of making these, uh 163 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: these meat jellies. And there was another fish jelly product 164 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: called icing glass that was made using sturgeon. So this 165 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 1: was a way of being able to preserve that food 166 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:44,559 Speaker 1: and also you know not eat pig products. And jellied eels, 167 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: by the way, are a traditional English dish that is 168 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: still popular today and I really want to try it. 169 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:52,839 Speaker 1: Have you ever tried jellied eels? Just on the off 170 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: chance we didn't talk about No, no, you're not into it, 171 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: not for me, thank you? Well, well, you know, let's 172 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: put a p in in it. I don't want to 173 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: peer pressure you, but you know, what is life if 174 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: not to be lived, my old friend. One more little 175 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: story in Japan, even in the late sixteen hundreds, from 176 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: the same history dot com article, there was an innkeeper 177 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: from Kyoto named Minoya Tara Zoman who found some congealed soup, 178 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,719 Speaker 1: some fish soup that had been thrown away and discarded, 179 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 1: and noticed that it was congealing. So that kind of 180 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: became the inspiration for seaweed jellies that became quite popular 181 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: throughout Asia and remain popular today. So we're doing pretty 182 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: well going chronologically here. Let's look at the first patent. 183 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: The first patent for the manufacture of gelatine arrives in 184 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty four in England and at the time kind 185 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: of a novelty, but everybody knew about it. It's just 186 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 1: now somebody got the rights to it and it took off, 187 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: especially with the upper crust. Yeah, that's true, and it 188 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:01,839 Speaker 1: wasn't the pat that was going to really win the 189 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: day for gelatine based products. That comes a little later. 190 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: But we do have the introduction of kind of someone 191 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: you could consider to be the world's first celebrity chef, 192 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 1: a man by the name of Marie Antoine Kara May 193 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: and in an NPR piece by Nicole Jankowski Um, she 194 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: kind of describes how karamy Um really revolutionized the use 195 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: of gelatine for these opulent culinary creations. Um he was 196 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: actually born uh sixteenth child of very very poor parents 197 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,040 Speaker 1: in Paris in the late seventeen hundreds either see or 198 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty four UM and was abandoned by his parents 199 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: during the most violent days of the French Revolution. He 200 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: worked his way up from a kitchen boy to an 201 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: apprentice of a well known pastry chef named Sylvan Bailey, 202 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: and then found his way to having his own shop. 203 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: And that was largely because he created these insane edible 204 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,960 Speaker 1: replicas of late eighteenth century building, some of the most 205 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 1: famous buildings, things like the ancient ruins of Athens or 206 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,320 Speaker 1: Chinese fortresses and things like that. And they were quite 207 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: tall and were displayed in the window his bakery, and 208 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:21,840 Speaker 1: he turned some heads, folks like Napoleon Bonaparte and French 209 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:27,400 Speaker 1: diplomats like Charles Maurice did Teleyrand Paragord decided to employ him, 210 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:30,199 Speaker 1: and Paragord actually got him to make a full menu 211 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: for his own personal estate. And it was later when 212 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,960 Speaker 1: he his creations made it to Europe when the Prince Regent, 213 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: George the Fourth asked him to come over and prepare 214 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: a menu for a party that he was having. Kara 215 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: Macy was a huge fan of Aspect, and I've kind 216 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: of been asking myself, like, what's the between aspect and 217 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: gelatine in general. It turns out Aspect specifically involves using 218 00:13:55,559 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: like a meat broth like, it's called a consumm and 219 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: it typically is savory, so it can include things like 220 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: vegetables or sliced beef or chicken or anything you could 221 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: think of. And Kara May coined this term show freud, 222 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,840 Speaker 1: which was French for hot cold, and the idea was 223 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: that parts of it would be cooked and then it 224 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: would be served cold. But the whole idea was it 225 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: was a big it was a show. It was a 226 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: culinary display of that opulence that you talked about. This 227 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: is not something that anyone could have. You had to 228 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: have a whole staff to be able to prepare this thing. 229 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: I mean, it was a pretty serious, almost scientific process 230 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: of straining and setting, and in a time before industrialization 231 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: and refrigeration, it was a really big deal to be 232 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: able to make this stuff. And it caught on in 233 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: New York high society as well, and even Thomas Jefferson, 234 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: it is Monticello Estate was a huge fan of having 235 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: um wine gelatin served with meals. And that's a that's 236 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: a very interesting point there about the luxurious nature, lit 237 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: luxurious origin of this food stuff, of this application of food, 238 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: because later we're going to see this change to a 239 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: matter of convenience as well as status. We left off 240 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: the story with Thomas Jefferson. Let's fast forward to eighteen 241 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: forty five when we meet a fellow named Peter Cooper. 242 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: Along with being the inventor of the first American built 243 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: steam locomotive, Pete I'm gonna call him, Pete created a 244 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:35,320 Speaker 1: way to make gelatine more accessible to the masses by 245 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 1: making it a powder. Uh. This is where we see 246 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: another patent come into play. He called this stuff portable 247 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:46,080 Speaker 1: gelatine because all you had to do was to add 248 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: hot water. And unfortunately, although it's sure caught on later, uh, 249 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: Pete did not have much success marketing it and he 250 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: didn't really pursue his invention. Occasionally he sold it to cooks, 251 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: but he didn't commercialize it beyond that. He was actually 252 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: more into powdered glue. Believe it or not. Why don't 253 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: you think it caught on? And it seemed like it 254 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 1: was such a to do to make this stuff and 255 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: for someone to be able to be like, hey, I 256 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 1: got the quick fix right here for you for your 257 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: gel cooking. Right, that's a good point. It's a great question. 258 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: So let's go to Rochester, New York, A little town 259 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: outside of there, in fact, called Leroy. This is where 260 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: we meet a couple by the name of Pearl and 261 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: May Wait, who at the time that we find them 262 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: are running a not entirely successful cough syrup and laxative business. 263 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: It's a good combo. They should make a combination cough 264 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: syrup laxative from when you can't poop and you have 265 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: a bit of a group and that can they can 266 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: have that. That can be the tagline. It could be 267 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: like that combination pizza Hutt and taco bell song. I 268 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: think we just figured out their marketing for them. So 269 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: what's the scoop? Ben? What? What? What? What? What did 270 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: old Pearl and May come up with? I'm so glad 271 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: you asked, because fortunately for this episode it wasn't all 272 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 1: uh mediocre laxtive business, especially because we're a family show. 273 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: According to the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the Wait couple was 274 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:20,199 Speaker 1: looking around for something they could do differently right away 275 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,640 Speaker 1: to evolve their business into a more successful entity, and 276 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: they obtained that earlier patent for powdered gelatine. They also 277 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,680 Speaker 1: encountered one of the big cons of gelatine at the time, 278 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: which is that it was tasteless. It was just sort 279 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: of like this translucent goop or you see a con. 280 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,720 Speaker 1: I see a blank slate. Rife for innovation, and luckily 281 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,159 Speaker 1: they did too, because they realized that they could add 282 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,960 Speaker 1: syrups to this, and the gelatine, while it may not 283 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,919 Speaker 1: have a flavor of its own, is an excellent platform 284 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 1: for other flavors. They blank slated it just as you said. 285 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 1: They added sugary fruit syrups like raspberry, strawberry, lemon, orange. 286 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,960 Speaker 1: No word if it's orange flower, but orange that's close enough. 287 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: Orange flower is so vague. What kind of flower are 288 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: we talking about? I guess literally any flower that is 289 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,879 Speaker 1: orange rose water. Yeah. It's interesting too, Ben, because before 290 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: the weights came into the picture, your buddy Peter Cooper, 291 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,920 Speaker 1: he didn't just patent the gelatine. He patented a gelatine 292 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,280 Speaker 1: dessert mix of his own creation, which was a powdered 293 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: mix with lemons um, sugar, eggs, and various spices. But 294 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: he just didn't have that marketing prow ass that was 295 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: required to really sell this to the world. And there 296 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: was a zeitgeist, the element to this stuff too, that 297 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:36,880 Speaker 1: we'll get into in just a second. For now, you're 298 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,040 Speaker 1: probably wondering, folks, where did this name jello come from? 299 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: We'll tell you. So. The weight couple had this gelatine idea, right, 300 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:47,920 Speaker 1: and the way that they flavored it made it about 301 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,159 Speaker 1: eight percent sugar, but they were overjoyed. Nobody was worried 302 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: about the sugar content at that time. They were overjoyed 303 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: because it tasted good. And may wait named this new 304 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: favorite dessert jello. It's a portmanteau combining the words gelatin 305 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: and jelly, both of which derived from the Latin meaning 306 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: to congeal or to freeze. And oh, man, it's good. 307 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:15,919 Speaker 1: There we go. Yeah, that was good. As for the 308 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,640 Speaker 1: O part, historians attributed it to just a naming trend. 309 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,199 Speaker 1: It was apparently very popular to add oh at the 310 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: end of your product name. Wammo, there we go, bingo, 311 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: I feel like you're on a roll tally ho what 312 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,360 Speaker 1: give us that that last one is? Yeah? You don't 313 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 1: if any Now you're right there, like wizzoh, Like not 314 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: only product names, but even like company names, right sure, yeah, blinko, rinko, 315 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: et cetera. Probably had like a futuristic vibe. Apparently, according 316 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:47,679 Speaker 1: to the Dictionary of Trade Named Origins, which is a 317 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: real book. The practice began because adding oh seemed visually appealing. 318 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:57,400 Speaker 1: In addition, you could take a common word and easily 319 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 1: modify it to make a trademark. An example would be 320 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: grain o real thing. That's so that's a legacy one too, 321 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: And it's cool too, because the one thing that's neat 322 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: about the jello thing, I mean needs not the right word. 323 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 1: But it's sort of like our buddy Edward Burnet's who 324 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,400 Speaker 1: sort of figured out how to to, you know, show 325 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:20,000 Speaker 1: the pork industry how they could sell this disgusting byproduct 326 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:23,439 Speaker 1: we now know as bacon and make it like the 327 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: number one breakfast food in America. Gelatin was just a 328 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 1: way of like using these discarded scraps and bits from 329 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: the meat packing industry and turning it into something you 330 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: could then sell back to the public. But the most 331 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: important aspect of it that had been missing up to 332 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: this point was that marketing win that Edward Burnet's, who 333 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: was the godfather of advertising that sort of spin. Yeah, exactly. So. 334 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: Pearl and May were great at making jello, but they 335 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 1: weren't super fantastic at selling it, and they didn't have 336 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,919 Speaker 1: the capital to push it out successfully. In the more. 337 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,919 Speaker 1: And that's why on September eight, the couple sold the 338 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: formula patent and the name entire Jello, the entire brand 339 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: of Jello, to their neighbor man named Frank Woodward, who 340 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,920 Speaker 1: at the time was the owner of the Genesee Food Company, 341 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,040 Speaker 1: and they sold it for about what was it, four 342 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: and fifty dollars. Yeah, and with our handy dandy inflation calculator, 343 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:26,600 Speaker 1: that equates to roughly eleven grand by today's standards. So 344 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: Woodward knew his business. He was already successful at selling 345 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: packaged food, and he took the techniques he learned and 346 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 1: applied them to Jello. He had his salesforce dressed in 347 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:42,640 Speaker 1: fancy suits and go around the houses offering free samples, 348 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: right just like the bad kids do in every drug 349 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:49,200 Speaker 1: warning p s A. The first one is free. And 350 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: they would do so many things to convince grocery store 351 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: owners to stock shelves with boxes of this powder gelatin Jello. 352 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: And they still had the original four flavors strawberry, raspberry, lemon, 353 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: and orange. But it didn't succeed. Still, like three people 354 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: have tried this now with you know, middling success and 355 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: a great article on Sirius Eats by Sarah Gray that 356 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: kind of chronicles the history of the Jello salad um mentions. 357 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,199 Speaker 1: A little book by the name of the Jungle by 358 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,679 Speaker 1: Upton Sinclair came out in nineteen o six that essentially 359 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: single handedly helped establish the Food and Drug Act, which 360 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: created the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration that we 361 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: know today. And it became a big deal um for 362 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 1: food to have labels and for things to be seen 363 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: as safe and pure. And Jello really jumped all over 364 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:49,399 Speaker 1: that and started using terms like the safety bag and 365 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: the repeated the word pure um according to this article 366 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: no less than three times, even adding it to like 367 00:22:55,280 --> 00:23:00,480 Speaker 1: the company's slogan. Right, So let's let's take a closer 368 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,640 Speaker 1: look at Woodward here. So he's doing his best, he's 369 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 1: got the expertise. It was around nineteen o four when 370 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:12,160 Speaker 1: he and a new employee named William hummel Ball had 371 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: a brilliant idea. They put ads for Jello in the 372 00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: Ladies Home Journal and nationally syndicated magazine, and they featured smiling, 373 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: fashionable homemakers in spotless white aprons, proclaiming that jello was 374 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:36,199 Speaker 1: quote America's favorite dessert and along with the worries of 375 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: safety that we're also in the zeitgeist. At the time, 376 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: Jello was propelled to the mainstream. Annual sales jumped to 377 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:47,680 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that that would be 378 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:52,120 Speaker 1: around six a little over six million today, and kids 379 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: were begging for the dessert because I'm sure, as you know, folks, 380 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,520 Speaker 1: if you can convince kids to want something, the parents 381 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: will you usually follow the lead. And as Noel said, 382 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: the cookbooks began to take off. World War One did 383 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:16,679 Speaker 1: affect rationing, and after World War Two, Gelatin's success persisted. 384 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: It became seen as a creative cooking tool. And at 385 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: this point, finally, after numerous people had tried to market gelatin, 386 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: it began to take off. It took off in the 387 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 1: craziest way. We found. We found some weird examples. Yeah, 388 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:38,439 Speaker 1: it's true. A guy named Charles Knox who had his 389 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: own I don't know. I look at it as sort 390 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: of the utilitarian cousin of Jello. It was just the 391 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,320 Speaker 1: Knox Gelatin Company, um, and it was just a packet. 392 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: It looks very much the same today as it did then, 393 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 1: very little bells and whistles, no flavors, He took it 394 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,160 Speaker 1: to the World's Fair in nineteen o four and had 395 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,560 Speaker 1: a competition where um, anyone could submit their own recipes 396 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: using gelatine. And a woman who here in this Serious 397 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: Eats article is only referred to as Mrs John Cook 398 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 1: from Newcastle, Pennsylvania one third prize in the competition with 399 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: a thing that she created called perfection salad, not gentleman salad. 400 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: Perfection salad. And I actually found a recipe for this thing. 401 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 1: I'm gonna describe it to you. Um. It is a 402 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: mountain of molded orange, kind of foggy gelatin, filled with 403 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: an assortment of shredded uh rough etsch And the recipe 404 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: goes like this. Two envelopes unflavored gelatine, a half cup sugar, 405 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: one teaspoons salt, one can apple juice, a half cup 406 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: lemon juice, two tablespoons vinegar, one cup shredded carrot, one 407 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: cup sliced celery, one cup finally shredded cabbage, a half 408 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: cup chopped green pepper, and one can chopped pimiento. Um. 409 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,879 Speaker 1: And it is if absolutely foul looking, but it caught on. 410 00:25:57,119 --> 00:25:59,360 Speaker 1: People loved it. They wanted to be part of the 411 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,479 Speaker 1: jello wave. Of the future, and this really kind of 412 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:07,800 Speaker 1: created this demand. And another era we're using jello showed 413 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 1: opulence because we were entering the time of refrigeration. As 414 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: the United States enters this industrial boom, the world of 415 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,199 Speaker 1: two point five kids, a car in every garage, and 416 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: endless suburbs, people wanted to keep up with the Joneses 417 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: and one of the best ways to do it was 418 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: to have the latest appliance. Right is similar to microwave cooking. 419 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,880 Speaker 1: A little bit later in history, people wanted to have refrigerators. 420 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,439 Speaker 1: And if you were bringing a jellous salad to the 421 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: pot luck or to the party that I don't know, 422 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: the kid's birthday party, of the barbecue, it showed that 423 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:57,119 Speaker 1: you and your family had one of those new fangled refrigerators. 424 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:02,639 Speaker 1: And we cannot, we cannot overestimate Mrs Cook's effect on 425 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:07,000 Speaker 1: the demand for jello. Food. Historian James Beard observed in 426 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: his in his book American Cookery that Mrs Cook's victory 427 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: at the World's Fair unleashed a demand for congealed salads that, 428 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,120 Speaker 1: according to Beard, this is the nineteen seventy two He says, 429 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 1: this a demand for congealed salads that has grown alarmingly, 430 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: particularly in the suburbs, alarmingly the invasion of the jello mold. 431 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:30,679 Speaker 1: He went on, as well, he did, he couched it. 432 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 1: He went on to say, quote, the jellied salad does 433 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 1: have its delights, though, and it is without question an 434 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: American innovation, no doubt about it. Mr Beard here here. 435 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 1: So now we've we've set the stage. We've got knocks, 436 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:49,159 Speaker 1: we've got jello. We've got people nowadays arguing that you 437 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,719 Speaker 1: can follow American social history by looking at the history 438 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,960 Speaker 1: of jello ass And now we haven't really talked about 439 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: this much, but there was a whole kind of iconography 440 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: associated with jello packaging. Some of early ones used illustrations 441 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: by Norman Rockwell, right. And then there was what was 442 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,920 Speaker 1: it been, the jello girl, sort of like a spokes thing, 443 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: introduced in nineteen o eight and instrumental, crucial in making 444 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,960 Speaker 1: American consumers connect the idea of jello with again the purity, 445 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:26,480 Speaker 1: the innocence of childhood. And although sales of sugar and 446 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:30,360 Speaker 1: you know, therefore, jello were rationed during World War One. 447 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: Between the twenties and thirties, the popularity of gelatin salads 448 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 1: sores and there were pragmatic reasons behind this. The depression 449 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: forced homemakers to stretch ingredients as far as possible. That 450 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: also included things like sugar that you would have separately 451 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 1: in many recipes require you to add sugar. You didn't 452 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: have to do that when you're using jello because the 453 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: sugar was already part of the mix. Yeah, that's that's 454 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: a really good point. And so now we see not 455 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: just the idea of refrigeration that comes into plate later, 456 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: but we also see the idea of status, of proving 457 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: to your friends and neighbors that you can still do 458 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: some top notch entertaining despite the rations, despite the shortages. 459 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,959 Speaker 1: I've got a recipe for all of relish, which I've 460 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 1: been a savior, the savior the trouble here, folks, it 461 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:23,480 Speaker 1: seems kind of gross. Olives, pickles, celery, and vinegar all 462 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 1: in a lovely, a lovely amalgamation with lime jello. Right right, 463 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:35,479 Speaker 1: But but now we see kind of a Bernesian, if 464 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: I could use that word, bern Asian approach to marketing here, 465 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: or and aspect of it, because we have to ask ourselves, 466 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,840 Speaker 1: did people genuinely like this stuff or did they instead 467 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:51,240 Speaker 1: like being people who could make it. Well, it's like 468 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,040 Speaker 1: I said, with my mom and the gentleman salad. Her 469 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: mom would have come from that original time where this 470 00:29:57,440 --> 00:29:59,760 Speaker 1: was something that was seen as a status symbol, and 471 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: she was all about these statas symbols. That's where my 472 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,920 Speaker 1: mom got the whole idea of having a lovely table 473 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: place setting. It was all very very important during times 474 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: where things were much more scarce to show that you 475 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 1: were kind of above the fray. I guess. I mean 476 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: it seems a little, I don't know, a little shallow 477 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: to me personally, but I can see how it would 478 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: have felt important to kind of keep your spirits up 479 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,240 Speaker 1: and to make your family feel like you had you know, 480 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: you were one of the halves. I guess um. But 481 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: of course, like things do, these these kind of jello 482 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 1: salad aspect meat monstrosities fell out of favor and jello 483 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: kind of took its was its original place as an 484 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: easy to make dessert. You had Bill Cosby swooping in, 485 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: you know, back when he wasn't persona non grata, uh, 486 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: advertising Jello jigglers. Remember, Jello jigglers was for kids. They 487 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: used like a little cookie cutter and they were a 488 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: little they used a little bit stiffer gelatine, I think, 489 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 1: so you could pick them up and play with them. 490 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: They wanted a gritty reboot. You're absolutely right. By the 491 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties, the golden age of Jello 492 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: had sort of passed. And that's why in nine six 493 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: they decided to rebrand. They got Bill Cosby, phenomenally successful 494 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: comic at the time. Uh. And it was sort of 495 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: the world made new because Americans were no longer as 496 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: readily familiar with the concept of aspects. And if you 497 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: had brought a perfection salad or a couple of other 498 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 1: really choice gentatsin dishes that will probably read off at 499 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,480 Speaker 1: the end. If you brought those to a potluck in 500 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 1: the seventies or eighties, people would be like, what are 501 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: you doing? I thought we were friends. Why why can't 502 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: you just tell me you don't like me? Exactly? Yeah, 503 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: it's sort of like bringing someone a fruitcake for Christmas. 504 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,960 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we did do an episode and the oldest fruitcake, 505 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: remember that. And it goes back to that that question 506 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 1: you asked earlier, Ben, Did people really like the way 507 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,320 Speaker 1: this stuff tasted or was it just like the placebo 508 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: effect of kind of associating it with status, and therefore 509 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 1: you could choke it down. Um. I like all kinds 510 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: of stuff, Ben, I'm a relatively adventurous eater, but literally 511 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,720 Speaker 1: every single one of these things seems absolutely inedible and 512 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: disgusting to me. And I don't think I could ever 513 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: convince myself otherwise, you know. Yeah, but we also have 514 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:25,480 Speaker 1: to remember that that numerous folks in the audience wrote 515 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: back about vinegar pie, and you were all absolutely correct. 516 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,320 Speaker 1: I'm kind of converted. Oh it sounds great, but I'm 517 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,120 Speaker 1: not gonna try and tell you what I'm not gonna try. 518 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 1: Let's let's read off some these gross recipes, all right, 519 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: So Emerald cantle ope is not that bad. You put lime, 520 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:43,680 Speaker 1: jello and can pineapple on the candle. It's fun. Yeah, 521 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: it's fun. It fills the is it, It fills the gap. 522 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: There's another one with a with a melon. You can 523 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: do that kind of You cut a half a melon 524 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: in half and and you put jello in the in 525 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: the hole and that you know, you can scoop it out, 526 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: so it's sort of like a double texture for your money. 527 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: Tell you what, though, Salmon and cottage cheese with boiled 528 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 1: eggs as a garnish, No, sir, No, I'm just thoted 529 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:08,320 Speaker 1: to a jelly lamb salad. No has a pass. I 530 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: know we talked about lime jelly salads, but do we 531 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: talk about lime cheese salad? Nope? Do you want to 532 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: skip that with? Oh? I you know, I do have 533 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: that that I think is a modern example of this 534 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,640 Speaker 1: actually working and and for me personally, Um, there is 535 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 1: a place here in Atlanta called the Spotted Trotter that 536 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: makes their own pattas, and a lot of pattas will 537 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: have a little layer of aspect on the top, so 538 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,480 Speaker 1: it's just like a small layer of like a ginger aspect, 539 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 1: so that it's made with like a consumer of beef broth, 540 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,120 Speaker 1: but it's flavored with ginger and when it's almost like 541 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: a jelly or a chutney of some kind. So it's 542 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 1: really good for like you know, mixing with a pat 543 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,160 Speaker 1: or putting on a piece of toast or something like that. 544 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,720 Speaker 1: It sort of mixes the savory with the sweet. But 545 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,480 Speaker 1: to me, it's when you really go full board down 546 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:59,160 Speaker 1: that you know, savory jello thing. That's just it's just 547 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,400 Speaker 1: I like it maybe as like a garnish or as 548 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 1: an additive, but you know, all on its own. Oh boy, 549 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: and the photography and some of these cookbooks, it's just 550 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 1: like who gave the green light to that picture? You know. 551 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 1: We invite you to check these out firsthand and send 552 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:19,359 Speaker 1: us some of your favorites and favorite here is a 553 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:21,319 Speaker 1: tricky word. It can be the one that you were 554 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 1: most fascinated by or the one you have actually tried. 555 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:29,520 Speaker 1: We we, of course, they're not knocking anybody's personal taste. 556 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: You can send us that stuff too ridiculous at how 557 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:34,279 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com or hit us up on the 558 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,800 Speaker 1: social media the Facebook, the Instagram. We are also Ridiculous History. 559 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:42,160 Speaker 1: As always, we'd like to thank our super producer Casey 560 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:46,360 Speaker 1: Pegram as well as author Maria tri Marchie, who wrote 561 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History. What's for Dinner? Meet Jello available on how 562 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: Stuff works dot com. Also thanks to our pal Alex 563 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:56,359 Speaker 1: Williams for composing our theme um and most importantly, thanks 564 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:57,920 Speaker 1: to you guys for tuning in and hanging out with 565 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,320 Speaker 1: us for another episode of Ridiculous History. We'll see you 566 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 1: next time.