I’m 52. And in my entire adult life I’ve never made Jello. How about you?
I have a family tradition of making rainbow jello for Easter. Each color layer gets a thin layer of sweetened condensed milk jello in between to make the colors really pop when it is sliced. It’s so pretty. It takes all day. It’s one of my favorite things about Easter.
I also make it pretty regularly because I eat gelatin as a nutritional supplement that does seem to help my joint pain a bit. For that I use unflavored fish and beef gelatin and mix it with tart cherry juice in pint jars and chill it or mix it with hot tea or chicken broth.
Wow your second paragraph may have just solved my jello resistance, thanks! You almost lost me at fish and beef tho 😅
Ha. Sorry. For beginners using unflavored gelatin I would recommend the Knox brand packets that are sold next to the regular Jello boxes. They are highly refined and don’t have any um… surprising smells… ? The big 2lb jars of unflavored supplement gelatin can be a bit strong when you first add boiling water, but it goes away entirely once it is set in the fridge or dissolved in tea. I could see that putting someone entirely off jello if they were already iffy.
My very favorite is mulberry juice jello, but the only place that sold mulberry juice near me stopped carrying it a couple years back. It’s on amazon, but I can’t bring myself to buy juice on amazon. Tart cherry is a good sub. https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Juice-Black-Mulberry-Organic/dp/B00J49VLMO/
Thanks! I was a little nervous at the thought of beef jello but I’ll try the Knox brand first. Two pounds sounds like a lot but what do I know? I’m gonna try coconut 😋
I was a little nervous at the thought of beef jello
Ever had any braised beef dish? Or a really good beef soup?
You know, now that you mention it, I have had some kind of gelatinous fish preparation, and it was pretty good! I didn’t eat it cold, but I do eat cold fish. I’m not sure about braised beef ( very likely) and I have had beef stew if that counts?
For that I use unflavored fish and beef gelatin
If that counts, then I made some just a couple days ago as a by-product of my carnitas.
I make it at least once every two months when I make chicken soup (I use Adam Ragusea’s whole chicken recipe, the soup is like 90% gelatin)
I make “chicken jello” for the cats on a weekly basis. It’s their favorite.
we make jello shots for the adults during trick or treat for halloween every year… hundreds of little cups. if that counts
Oh it counts. You’re doing the Lord’s work. 🙏
Wow, do parents take shots at your door? This is not the Halloween I remember, but good on you.
ha, yeah, 1 per person! and its jello… its candy-adjacent
Yes, but there’s also vodka involved haha do you live in mostly single-family suburbs?
correct
We made some for the 4th. It’s not common but for parties? Everyone loves Jello Shots.
I was cleaning out my pantry last week and found 3 boxes of jello mix that were like 4 years old and I threw them out.
When I went grocery shopping, I was like “oh, yeah, I’m out of jello” and bought 3 more 🤦🏼♂️
Jello as dessert? When I was 15 for a school project. Jello as a shot? Probably annually
I was wondering why I can remember buying jello, but not consuming it.
My last colonoscopy so like 2 years old.
Which begs the question, why haven’t you had your colonoscopy? You are too old to not have had one and jello in an acceptable color is on the okay foods list.
Also barf
I make dog treats out of jello by adding chicken stock regularly. The stock comes from boiling rotisserie chicken leftovers. It costs about a dollar per batch. My dogs love it and it’s good for them
That’s an amazing idea that I’m going to steal
Help yourself, your pets will love you for it. A couple of tips if you don’t mind: I boil the rotisserie chicken carcass (or any kind of meat and bones) for 10 hours on very low heat and covered. It takes that long to extract nutrients. You can use canned stuff but it’s full of salt. I pour the whole thing into a pie tin (with gelatin) and sprinkle molasses yeast flakes on top. You can find this at health food stores. It’s got lots of nutritional benefits and if your pet ever suffers from a lack of appetite a little on top of their food may help. A little bit goes a long way. Bon appetit!
I dig your jam
One of my wife’s friends had just had a kid. He’s in highschool now.
A couple of years ago. Jell-O is useful when you have to go on a liquid diet.
Today. I love jello + canned fruit.
Do you mixed the canned fruit into the jello so it’s suspended in there when it solidifies? My mum always made that when I was growing up. She topped it with mini marshmallows.
Giving me Rugrats flashbacks. Remember the housewarming jello molds?
Yup that’s the way! Pineapple and pear is my fav. My mom always added marshmallows too, I’ll have to do that next time for nostalgia purposes lol
The last time I made Jello I think I was like 22 or 23, so probably around 2004. I was at a party at my friend’s house that had fizzled down to about 5 people pretty early. That’s when someone had the great idea to make Jello shots… I prepared the Jello on the stove, but my friend Mary actually assembled the shots. She did not mention to anyone that she used Everclear and added almost double what the recipe called for. Anyway, she put them in the fridge and then promptly forgot about them… Until we ran out of beer. Then someone remembered. They weren’t completely set, which at the time we attributed to them not getting chilled long enough. In truth, there was so much pure alcohol in those shots that they wouldn’t have ever set even if we kept them in the freezer overnight! Assuming we were immortal, as drunk people in their early 20s tend to do, we heroicly downed about 4 of them each before we realized how strong they were… Most of the rest of that night is a blur of laughter, spinning lights, and eventually a soft couch and oblivion.
That was probably about the 2nd or 3rd most drunk I’ve ever been before or since, and definitely top 5 worst hangovers lol
For the record I do not drink anymore
Sounds familiar, only that we went for some bottom shelf vodka. I believe I was 21, was at the very end of my bachelor’s degree. Probably around July/August 2005.
Been a long time. Once I found out it was all bones and hooves and connective tissue, that kinda took the fun out of it.
Look up agar agar : it’s a gelatin substitute made from algae
They make vegan jelly (or jello) nowadays, don’t feel like you can’t have fun any more!
I will never make Jello for as long as I live. I feel like there’s some kind of dark, horrible secret behind its creation, like it’s made of ground up roaches and goat phlegm or something, and I just don’t want to know.
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Gelatin, also known as hydrolyzed collagen, is made from primarily pig skins which are acid treated to break them down.
I specifically stated that I did not want to know, why would you do this to me
Yeah that’s kinda mean. I have a certain phobia and I hate it so much when I am being vulnerable and let people in on it and then they try to talk me out of it or say “x is not that bad!” Or talk about it or joke or even think it’s cool to expose me to it like they are a fucking therapist. Ok, you just didn’t want to know the jello secret, that’s not exactly a crippling phobia, but it’s still a mean move.
If it is a consolation to you, there is vegan jello.
I personally find gelatin a great way to use up more of the animal, and it’s not bugs or anything like that, if you eat pork or beef that’s really an ok product imo. It’s not even offal. Bones also have other usage in cuisine, but in case you don’t want to know I’ll leave that out.
Anyway, back to vegan jello. It’s made with agar agar, which is basically a polymer extracted from algae, instead of gelatine. Tastes good! Highly recommend.
Oh shit, I’m so sorry! I misread your comment.
Yeah but it’s not like you eat it
Not since college
Do you have kids?
Newp!
I’m 40, and made it for the first time a month ago. It made 4 tiny cups. I still have one cup in the fridge.
