Gelatin dessert
13162
225176596
2008-07-12T08:27:22Z
69.235.134.142
[[Image:JelloDesserts.JPG|thumb|280px|A variety of pre-packaged gelatin dessert products]]
[[Image:Jelly.jpg|thumb|Jelly, as sold in UK]]
The most common culinary use for [[gelatin]] is as a main ingredient in varieties of '''gelatin desserts'''. Unprepared gelatin for desserts is often marketed as a flavored powder or concentrated gelatinous solid. Prepared gelatin desserts are marketed in a variety of forms. Popular brands include [[Jell-O]] and [[Rose Knox|Knox]] from [[Kraft Foods]] in North America, [[Hartley's]] (formerly [[Rowntree's]]) in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Aeroplane Jelly]] in [[Australia]].
==Regional naming==
* In the [[United Kingdom]], [[Ireland]], and many of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth Nations]] gelatin desserts are called '''jelly'''.
* In the [[United States]] and [[Canada]] gelatin desserts are called '''gelatin''' and '''jello''' (generic name based on Jell-O).
==Production==
To make gelatin desserts, typically powdered gelatin is mixed with [[sugar]], and additives such as [[adipic acid]], [[fumaric acid]], [[sodium citrate]], and artificial flavorings and [[food color]]s. Very hot water is added to swell and melt the powdered gelatin. The dessert gels slowly as it cools.
Because the collagen is processed extensively, the final product is not categorized as a meat or [[animal product]] by the US federal government. A recent ruling by the FDA allows gelatin to be used in organic foods even though it is not an organic product.
Gelatin (US spelling) or gelatine (British spelling) (used to make Jell-o and other desserts) is made from the boiled bones, skins and tendons of animals.
==Safety==
While eating tainted beef can lead to variant [[Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease]] (vCJD) in humans{{Fact|date=April 2008}}, there are no known cases of vCJD transmitted through collagen products such as gelatin.
==Gelatin shots==
[[Image:Tray of jello shots.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A tray of gelatin [[Mixed drink shooters and drink shots|shots]] prior to refrigeration]]
Vodka jelly, (often known as Jello Shots in the US) is a party food where some sort of [[Alcoholic beverage|alcohol]], usually [[rum]], [[vodka]], [[tequila]] or sometimes even [[Neutral grain spirit|grain alcohol]] replaces some of the water or fruit juice used to congeal the gel.
The American satirist and mathematician [[Tom Lehrer]] has been rumored to have been the first to invent the gelatin shot in the 1950s while working for the [[National Security Agency]], where he developed [[vodka]] gelatin as a way to circumvent a restriction of alcoholic beverages on base<ref>[http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2000-04-19/feature_full.html San Francisco - News - That Was the Wit That Was<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, but this claim has not been substantiated.
The maximum alcohol content is somewhere between 19 and 20 oz. of vodka per 3 oz. package of Jell-O powder, or about 30% [[alcohol by volume]].<ref>[http://www.myscienceproject.org/j-shot.html The Ultimate Jell-O Shot]</ref>
==Alternatives==
Some gelatinous desserts can be made with [[agar]] instead of gelatin, allowing them to congeal more quickly and at higher temperatures. Agar, a vegetable product made from [[seaweed]], is used especially in quick jelly powder mix and Asian jelly desserts, but also as an alternative that is acceptable to [[Veganism|vegans]] and [[vegetarians]]. Agar is more closely related to [[pectin]] and other gelling plant [[carbohydrate]]s than to gelatin.
Another vegetarian alternative to gelatin is [[carrageenan]]. This alternative sets more firmly than agar, and is often used in [[kosher]] and [[halaal]] cooking. Though it, too, is a type of seaweed, it tends not to have an unpleasant smell during cooking as agar sometimes does.
==Chemistry==
Gelatin consists of partially [[hydrolysis|hydrolyzed]] [[collagen]], a [[protein]] which is highly abundant in some animal tissues such as bone and skin. Although many gelatin desserts incorporate fruit, some fresh fruits contain proteolytic [[enzyme]]s; these enzymes cut the gelatin molecule in to [[peptide]]s (protein fragments) too small to form a firm gel. The use of such fresh fruits in a gelatin recipe is a dessert that never 'sets'.
Specifically, [[pineapple]] contains the [[protease]] (protein cutting enzyme) [[bromelain]], [[kiwi fruit]] contains [[actinidin]], [[fig]]s contain [[ficain]], and both [[papaya]] and [[pawpaw]] contain [[papain]]. Cooking or [[canning]] [[Denaturation (biochemistry)#Protein denaturation|denature]] and inactivate the proteases, so canned pineapple, for example, works fine in a gelatin dessert.
==See also==
*[[Jelly bean]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{Cookbook|Rainbow Jello}}
*[http://www.kraftfoods.com/jello/explore/history/ Kraft Foods: Jell-O history]
*[http://www.cooper.edu/engineering/chemechem/gelatin/gel.html Cooper Union history page]
*[http://www.jellymongers.co.uk Bompas & Parr: Jellymongers]
[[Category:1845 introductions]]
[[Category:Desserts]]
[[Category:Gels]]
[[Category:Animal products]]
[[de:Götterspeise]]
[[es:Gelatina de postres]]
[[he:ג'לי]]
[[no:Dessertgelé]]
[[zh:果凍]]