Jello - The Interesting History of America's Favorite Dessert

Superstar chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in New York City puts Jell-O on raw oysters.

Okay, not really. But he does put flavored gelatin cubes on them.

Gelatin is Older Than Jell-O. Much Older

Gelatin has been used in cooking since at least the middle ages. However making gelatin was a laborious process -- requiring simmering veal and beef knuckles, bones and hooves to extract the collagen and then straining it many times through linen napkins to clarify. The process was so labor intensive that only the very rich could afford to have a maid or cook spend the several days it took to complete.

Another interesting thing is that until the 20th century most gelatin dishes were savory instead of sweet. Aspic, sometimes seen on the menu of fine French restaurants, is a holdover from this tradition.

The Shortcut

Finally, in the late 19th century, a shortcut arrived in the form of powdered gelatin -- invented by none other than Charles Knox. This made it much, much easier to make gelatin, but it didn't make it any more popular. It was still seen as a posh food, reserved for fancy pants dinner parties.

It took sugar and fruit flavors to bring it to the suburbs.

Jell-O

Jell-O was introduced in 1897 and combined powdered gelatin with fruit flavoring.

But it wasn't an overnight success. In fact, General Foods considered discontinuing the product in the 1930's when they decided to take a chance on sponsoring a new radio show by an unknown comedian. That comedian was Jack Benny who went on to be the most popular radio star in history and made Jell-O a household name along the way.

By the way, during the run of the Jack Benny show Jell-O only had 6 flavors: Orange, Strawberry, Raspberry, Lemon, Lime and Cherry.

Oh, and Eric Ripert puts cubes of shiso, ponsu and apple-wasabi gelees on those oysters. But technically...it's Jell-O.