As a child growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, Jell-O often appeared on our dinner table in the form of dessert. Although there are genuine horror stories during that time period (and photos to prove it’s existence which I will not post here as, quite frankly, they make me quesy) about lime Jell-O with carrots and other sundry of vegetables (i.e. savory uses of the product), as I recall my mother only used Jell-O for it’s wonderful sweet quality. One of my favorites was fruit cocktail encased in red Jell-O which was touted as ‘salad’.

Browsing through my recipe box recently, I discovered several vintage recipes for Jell-O, including the famous Knox Blocks that involved marrying Jell-O with Knox gelatin, forming a stiffer Jell-O product that was entertaining to eat with your hands.

Even more delicious, when I was in junior high in the late 1970s, my best friend, Sue, had an indulgent mother who would permit us to create things in the kitchen as long as we didn’t burn down the house. At one slumber party, we made pan after pan of various flavors (colors) of Jell-O and once set, took forks scrapping the jiggly gelatin into torn pieces. We then tossed the Jell-O scraps lightly with Cool Whip and arranged them layer-by-layer in a tall clear parfait glass and topped with more whipped cream. Fun to make, very pretty to look at and oddly refreshing.

But, for me, the hands-down best use of Jell-O appeared in the late 1970s to early 1980s when the idea to bake a white cake, poke holes in it, pour in hot Jell-O and create this masterpiece was unveiled. Again, another easy, yet visually appealing and tasty use of Jell-O.

After the trip down the memory lane of my childhood, I proceeded to dive down the rabbit hole of Google searching. In those searches I stumbled across this fascinating history of Jell-O, and it’s predecessor gelatin, and while it was extremely popular when I was a kid, I had no idea that Jell-O was actually invented around the turn of the century in 1902. The best timeline for the history of Jell-O was on the What’s Cooking America website, link below.

https://whatscookingamerica.net/history/jell-0-history.htm

At most supermarkets today, Jell-O occupies only a small bit of space on the shelves and I can’t recall the last time I personally made, or had, Jell-O. With Christmas a few months away, maybe it’s time for me to consider baking the Jell-O poke cake for the nostalgia. Was it as good as I remembered?