Jell-O fruity cookie recipe, plus more retro 1970s ideas for using fruit gelatin powder - Click Americana (2024)

FAQs

Does lemon juice affect gelatin? ›

Acidic ingredients, such as pineapple, kiwi, or fresh lemon juice, can interfere with the setting process of gelatin.

Proteases can cut up the proteins so that the gelatin cannot solidify. There are several different kinds of proteases in the fruits recommended for this activity, and using any of these fresh fruits should result in gelatin that does not solidify well, if at all.

Add oranges, kiwi and grapes to Jello mixture. Strawberries and bananas should be added last as they tend to soften.

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).

When taken by mouth: Gelatin is commonly consumed in foods. It is possibly safe when used in larger amounts as medicine, short-term. But taking high doses of 15 grams daily might increase the risk for side effects, including sore throat, swollen gums, and mouth sores.

If you like making gelatin for dessert, you might have noticed that the box recommends against adding certain kinds of fruit, such as papaya and pineapple, which are shown in Figure 1 below, as well as other fruits, like kiwi, mango, ginger root, figs, or guava.

Some fresh fruits prevent Jell-O and other types of gelatin from gelling. These are fruits that contain high levels of proteases. Proteases are enzymes that break chemical bonds in proteins, such as collagen in gelatin. Pineapple, kiwi, papaya, mango, and guava are examples of fruits that cause a problem.

Likewise, some plants contain protein-digesting enzymes that can destroy gelatin as well. These include fresh pineapple, papaya, kiwi, mango, and fresh ginger, so it pays to do a little bit of research before making any substitutions.

Pure gelatin has no smell, but most commercial gelatins aren't completely purified. Gelatin is made out of animals, and so it smells like dead animal. The gelatin leaves are pure, concentrated gelatin, with no flavoring to cover up the smell. Most of the time, that smell dissipates when cooked.

Some fruits like berries, apples, and bananas can be added to Jello perfectly fine when fresh but fruits with a higher acid content like pineapple, citrus, and kiwi will prevent you Jello from setting. Canned or jarred varieties are better because the acidy has had time to mellow out.

What fruit makes the best jelly? ›

1. Fruits that are high in natural pectin and acid.

Some examples of the fruits that are high in natural pectin and acid are apples, oranges, melons, cherries, currants, grapes, raspberries. While the opposites are peaches, strawberries, peach, pineapple, grapefruit, pears, blueberries, papaya.

Other types of fruit contain proteases can also ruin gelatin. Examples include figs, fresh ginger root, papaya, mango, guava, pawpaw and kiwi fruit.

Jell-O shifted to single-serve cups and more convenient options as competition for snacks and desserts grew. Kraft in the early 2000's shifted the focus of Jell-O's advertising away from kids and toward adults. It pitched sugar-free Jell-O, for example, as a treat for Atkins dieters.

Jellied dishes become the perfect food. It's cheap, aesthetically pleasing (by the standards of the day), and relatively easy to prepare.

There are a few reasons: Jell-O is easy to swallow and digest, making it suitable for patients who have difficulty eating solid foods or have digestive issues. It's smooth texture and mild flavor make it more tolerable for those with sensitive stomachs or who are recovering from surgery.

But generally speaking, gelatin is affected by acidity that's lower than pH 3 so if you use only lemon juice and it's pH 3 or less, it likely won't set. I like to make pies filled with fresh fruit but the juice always runs.

Acids hydrolyze gelatin and weaken its gelling capacity in water, which raises concerns about the use of food acids in gelatin-based confections (gummies).

Kiwi fruit, which has the protease actinidain and relatively high amounts of citric acid, consistently dissolved the most gelatin out of all six fruits, while the lemons, which have even higher amounts of citric acid but no protease, consistently denatured the lowest amount, actually making the gelatin expand.

The results of these studies demonstrated that when glycine and citric acid are present in some gelatin capsule formulations, pellicle formation or crosslinking of the capsule gelatin is prevented.