FOOD HISTORY: Jello

While gelatin (gelatine in French; gelatin in English, from the Latin word "gelatus" meaning :jellied" was "invented" by boiling and removing the glutinous materials from bones and first described by French researcher/ inventor Denis Papin in 1682, It's use  in a dessert product didn't occur until over 100 plus years later. That began in 1845 when Peter Cooper, American inventor, who invented and built the "Tiny Tim" steam locomotive to demonstrate the potential of steam to power rail transportation in the United States and who founded The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City also obtained the first US patent for the manufacture of a gelatin dessert product. His product was very simple; one only had to add boiling water to the gelatin powder to use. While Cooper manufactured and packaged it for sale to cooks, because it had little taste, it never became popular and Cooper did little over the next 50 years to commercialize it further.  In 1895, cough syrup manufacturer Pearl B. Wait bought the patent and, in order to make the gelatin more flavorful, added fruit syrup to it and  developed a packaged, flavored gelatin dessert. Wait's wife named the product Jell-O; a combination of the words "gelatin and jelly". While there was no competition for Jell-O on the market, it also had few customers. Therefore, Wait sold his business to O.F. Woodward for $450. Woodward could not improve sales and was so concerned about the business that he tried to sell it for $35. NO TAKERS! However, in 1900, several cooking experts discovered Jell-O and decided it would make a nice ending to a meal. After that, Jell-O began to appear as a dessert at banquets and fancy dinners. In 1902, Woodward launched the Jell-O, " America's Most Famous Dessert" advertising campaign and, from that time on, Jell-O became known world-wide and now is the world's largest selling powdered dessert.