Blueberry Jello Salad Recipe, Whats Cooking America (2024)

FAQs

What happened to Jell-O salads? ›

Jello salad fell out of fashion in the 1960s and 70s. The rise of Julia Child and the popularization of French cooking in the United States made the jello salad appear less elegant, and dieting trends eventually turned against sugary food like Jell-O.

Chances are you didn't follow the directions exactly, adding too much water or watery fruit (via Butter With A Side Of Bread). Jell-O also won't set if left on the counter; it needs to chill in your refrigerator.

The only way it will set is by using more gelatin. You can use either more jello powder, or normal gelatin. You'll have to adjust the extra gelatin and extra liquid until the ratio is correct.

“Jell-O salads first became popular in the 1930s but reached their highest expression as part of the processed food school of cooking that sprang up after the war,” said Wyman. This was an era of packaged foods and TV dinners, and it was the golden age of gelatin desserts.

With Jell-O salads becoming less popular, the brand looked for its next hit. But it had a problem: With the increase in women entering the workforce, families weren't sitting down for as many meals and eating dessert like they once did. And new, ready-to-eat foods were hitting the market that were more convenient.

If you like making gelatin for dessert, the box often recommends not adding certain kinds of fruit, including pineapple, kiwi, mango, ginger root, papaya, figs or guava. People have a hard time getting the gelatin to solidify when they add these fruits.

Should Jello be covered? Every site I found on the internet said to cover it only after it's cooled down. Plastic wrap will do fine. Once it has gelled properly, you can put the lid back on to prevent it from picking up other smells or flavors from the fridge.

Gelatin has a fairly low melting point and will become liquid if left in a warm environment.

In one mixing bowl, pour the packet of gelatin mix in. Carefully add 1 cup of boiling hot water inside. Stir until the powder is dissolved. Now slowly stir in 1 cup of cold water.

Whisk together 1 cup (240 milliliters) of hot water with 1 packet of jello in a large bowl. Keep whisking until no powdery granules remain, about 2 to 3 minutes. If you are using a larger, 6-ounce (170 grams) packet of jello, use 2 cups (475 milliliters) of hot water instead.

Why did they eat so much Jell-O in the 50s? ›

After World War II, when food shortages and rationing ended, gelatin became a creative kitchen tool, as well as a shortcut. Congealed molded dishes quickly earned a place at the table as impressive salads. According to Clark, mid-century meals had more courses than we serve at home today.

The original gelatin dessert began in Le Roy, New York, in 1897, when Pearle Bixby Wait trademarked the name Jell-O. He and his wife May had made the product by adding strawberry, raspberry, orange, and lemon flavoring to sugar and granulated gelatin (which had been patented in 1845).

The problem was, the new processed substitutes couldn't be sold on taste alone, as Shapiro makes clear in her book Something From the Oven: They just weren't as good as the real thing. But American palates had been adjusting to industrial flavors for the entire 20th century.

Of course should the gelatin molecules be broken down, no three dimensional array can form and there can be no gelling. Bromolain in pineapple, papain in papaya and actinidin in kiwi are all enzymes capable of breaking down proteins, hence the warning that these fruits cannot be used in Jell-O.

Beginning in 1902, to raise awareness, Woodward's Genesee Pure Food Company placed advertisem*nts in the Ladies' Home Journal proclaiming Jell-O to be "America's Most Famous Dessert." Jell-O was a minor success until 1904, when Genesee Pure Food Company sent armies of salesmen into the field to distribute free Jell-O ...

The once hard-to-find ingredients were considered luxurious and exotic. The salad was a treat reserved for holidays and other special occasions, and named “ambrosia” after the food of the Greek and Roman gods. But it wasn't until the early 20th century that ambrosia as we know it came to be.