JELL-O Desserts

The industrialist, inventor and philanthropist Peter Cooper, of Tom Thumb engine and Cooper Union fame, obtained the first patent for a gelatin dessert. Although he packaged his gelatin in neat little boxes with directions for use, Cooper did very little with it. Home cooks still relied on sheets of prepared gelatin, which had to be clarified by boiling with egg whites and shells and dripped through a jelly bag before they could be turned into shimmering molds. This was a time-consuming process, very different from today’s JELL-O® gelatin.

Pearle B. Wait, a carpenter and cough medicine manufacturer from LeRoy, New York, developed a fruit-flavored version of Cooper’s gelatin. His wife, May Davis Wait, named it JELL-O®. The first flavors were: strawberry, raspberry, orange and lemon.

Wait sold the business to Orator Francis Woodward, a neighbor, for $450.

The first JELL-O® advertisement ran in Ladies’ Home Journal featuring smiling, fashionably coifed women in white aprons proclaiming JELL-O® gelatin “America’s Most Famous Dessert™”. At this time, JELL-O® was always prepared in a tin mold (spelled “mould” then).

The JELL-O Girl, the brand’s first trademark, made her debut. She was Elizabeth King, the daughter of Franklin King, an artist for Genesee’s ad agency. She was shown playing in her nursery, not with toys but with JELL-O gelatin packages. The tag line used with these advertisements was “you can’t be a kid without it.”

Additionally, the first JELL-O® gelatin recipe book appeared. As did two new flavors: chocolate and cherry.

Canadian JELL-O gelatin production began in Bridgeburg, Ontario.

Peach flavor joined the line.

The famous cheerful Kewpie® Dolls, created by artist Rose O’Neill, were added to advertisements, booklets and even the package design with the JELL-O® Girl.

A booklet featured six of America’s most famous cooks and their recipes.

Even actress Ethel Barrymore and opera singer Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink contributed their favorite recipes to various JELL-O® gelatin collections.

D-Zerta®, the first sugar-free gelatin dessert, was introduced. In November of that year, the Genesee Pure Food Company changed its name to the “JELL-O® Company”.

During the early quarter of the 20th century, immigrants entering Ellis Island in New York City were served JELL-O gelatin as a “Welcome to America”.

Postum and the JELL-O® Company formed the nucleus of what was to become The General Foods Company.

Chocolate flavor gelatin was discontinued.

JELL-O® gelatin advertising in the 1920s included some of the most beautiful food illustrations ever created by outstanding artists such as Guy Rowe (Giro), Linn Ball, and Maxfield Parrish. Other ads by Norman Rockwell showed the ease of making JELL-O® gelatin with appealing family scenes, such as a little girl unmolding a JELL-O® gelatin treat for her doll.

Gelled or “congealed” salads became very popular around this time, with almost one-third of the salad recipes in the average cookbook gelatin-based. This led to the introduction of Lime JELL-O® gelatin in 1930, a flavor well-suited to salads, appetizers, relishes, and entrees.

The JELL-O® brand sponsored a “Wizard of Oz” radio program and a series of children’s booklets by Frank L. Baum, author of the “Wizard of Oz” books. JELL-O® recipes and copy were included at the back of the books.

Chocolate flavor was first marketed to consumers as Walter Baker’s Dessert, then in 1936 was renamed JELL-O® Chocolate Pudding.

The JELL-O® brand sponsored the radio program The Jack Benny Show for 10 years. The show starred Jack Benny, Mary Livingston, Don Wilson and the unforgettable J-E-L-L-O song. Recipe booklets featured the brand of humor so typical of Jack and Mary:

Jack: So Mary, why is JELL-O® like a boy just before Christmas?

Mary: Because it's twice as good as ever before, Jack!

Jack: Hey, Mary, why is JELL-O® like a fellow with two steam yachts?

Mary: Because it's extra-rich!

Jack: Why is JELL-O® like a woman taking a package of raisins to Europe?

Mary: Because, Jack, it makes a little fruit go such a long way!

Cola flavor introduced, but it only lasted a year.

A sign of the times was the publication of war-related recipe booklets. One called “Bright Spots for Wartime Meals—66 Ration-Wise Recipes” offered recipes using few or no ration point ingredients, or stretching every bit of fruit, egg or cream.

Because of the scarcity of shortening, one-crust pies became popular, with fillings made with JELL-O® gelatin or pudding.

JELL-O® ads were apologizing for product shortages related to scarcity of sugar. A Helen Hokinson cartoon showed a matronly lady approaching a policeman, saying “…she snatched it—the very last box of JELL-O® Pudding—just as I was reaching for it!”

Time-pressed consumers were introduced to the “speed-set” method of making JELL-O® gelatin, using ice cubes as part of the cold water called for in the directions.

JELL-O® Tapioca pudding in three flavors was introduced: vanilla, chocolate and orange-coconut, and JELL-O® Ricenbsp;pudding.

JELL-O® Apple gelatin made its debut, followed later in the decade by grape, black cherry and black raspberry flavors.

No longer promoted as a food-stretcher, JELL-O® gelatin took a light-hearted approach, positioned as a treat and a festive dessert to be served with pride.

Ads campaigned for National Trim-Your-Torso-With-JELL-O® Week, National Use-Up-Your-Leftovers-in-a-JELL-O®-Salad Week and National JELL-O®-With-Fruit-To-Boot Week. One-crust gelatin and ice cream Parfait Pies became all the rage.

JELL-O® Instant Pudding chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch flavors were joined shortly by coconut cream and strawberry. These were promoted as “Busy Day Desserts,” stressing that it's never too late for real homemade desserts, and were advertised on six network television shows: Mame, Our Miss Brooks, Red Buttons, Rocket Rangers, Roy Rogers and The Bob Hope Show.

The 60s were a time of flavor expansion and experimentation for JELL-O gelatin.

Introduced: Blackberry, Concord Grape, Fruit Mold Supreme, JELL-O® Gelatin for Salads (Celery, Italian, Mixed Vegetable and Seasoned Tomato), Lemon-Lime, Mixed Fruit, Orange-Banana, Orange-Pineapple, Pineapple-Grapefruit, Strawberry-Banana, Tropical Fruit, Variety Packs, Wild Strawberry, Wild Raspberry and Wild Cherrry

Discontinued: Apple, Blackberry, Grape, Lemon-Lime, Pineapple-Grapefruit and Strawberry Punch.

Cast members from The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, USMC and Green Acres pitched JELL-O instant pudding.

The first JELL-O® No-Bake Dessert was introduced, a real cheesecake which required no baking and took only 15 minutes to prepare.

With women working outside the home and feeling pressured for time, “faster is better” became the JELL-O® gelatin theme of the 70s—with consumers offered shortcuts using ice cubes, frozen fruit, ice cream, a blender or an ice bath.

JELL-O® Pudding Treats were introduced.

Comedian Bill Cosby became the spokesperson for JELL-O® pudding. The synergistic relationship between Cosby and the JELL-O® brand lasted nearly 30 years.

Peach flavor reappeared.

New flavors were Americana Rice pudding and Pistachio instant pudding.

JELL-O® Gelatin Pops were introduced.

Sugar Free JELL-O® Gelatin was introduced.

A second convenient JELL-O® No Bake Dessert, Chocolate Silk Pie, was introduced.

After 13 years with JELL-O Pudding, Bill Cosby was so successful in appealing to young moms and kids that he became the spokesperson for JELL-O Gelatin, as well.

JELL-O® JIGGLERS® (concentrated gelatin snacks) were introduced.

Also in the early 1990s, Sugar Free JELL-O® gelatin snacks in cup form were introduced nationally. With no fat or cholesterol and 10 calories per serving, these snacks met the needs of people looking for a portable and satisfying snack alternative.

The Smithsonian Institute held its first and only mock conference on JELL-O Brand History, featuring such topics as “American History is JELL-O® History,” “The Dialectics of JELL-O® in Peasant Culture,” “The Semiotics of JELL-O®,” “JELL-O® Salad or Just Desserts: The Poetics of an American Food.” The event included a JELL-O® Jell-Off Cooking Contest.

Snacktivities evolved from JIGGLERS®—ideas to encourage parents and kids to create recipes together using JELL-O® gelatin and pudding in playful edibles like Dirt Cups.

New Watermelon and Berry Blue gelatin flavors appealed to youngsters, Grape reappeared with the help of dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, and Blackberry was reincarnated as Berry Black.

Cranberry JELL-O® gelatin flavor was introduced.

Cranberry-Raspberry and Cranberry-Strawberry JELL-O® gelatin flavors were introduced.

JELL-O® JIGGLER® Eggs were launched, with molds that produced three-dimensional jewel-like gelatin snacks the size and shape of real eggs. That same year, more than 15,000 of these were handed out to children attending the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

Other 90s innovations include JELL-O® Microwave Pudding and Pie Filling, JELL-O® Free Pudding Snacks made with skim milk, JELL-O® Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Pudding & Pie Filling, and seven new JELL-O® No Bake Dessert flavors. Low Fat Yogurt containing JIGGLERS® Bits was introduced.

JELL-O® gelatin in space made news in June, 1996. According to a Reuters dispatch, Shannon Lucid, an astronaut on a 140-day mission to the Russian Mir space station, revealed that she kept track of time by allowing herself to wear pink socks and eat JELL-O® gelatin on Sundays. After Lucid served her Russian crewmates their first JELL-O® gelatin as a special Easter treat, they decided to share a bag every Sunday night. “It is the greatest improvement in space flight since my first flight over 10 years ago,” Lucid wrote. “Every once in awhile, Yuri will come up to me and say, 'Isn’t today Sunday?' and I will say 'No, it’s not. No JELL-O® [gelatin] tonight!'”

The JELL-O brand introduced Sparkling White Grape Flavor, known as “The Champagne of JELL-O®™”. This new gelatin flavor was so popular that it was joined by Sparkling Berry and Sparkling Mandarin Orange.

The JELL-O® Museum opened its doors in LeRoy, NY (the birthplace of JELL-O®). The museum features JELL-O® artwork by famous artists such as Maxfield Parrish and Norman Rockwell, and has memorabilia that is loved by JELL-O® brand fans everywhere!

The JELL-O® brand had a “faloon” (air inflated float) in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade three years—featuring such talent as the Olson Twins, Kool and the Gang and country sensation JoDee Messina.

Everyone has a JELL-O® memory. From 1998-2000, A JELL-O® Billboard stood in New York City’s Times Square. The billboard featured hundreds of personal JELL-O® memories, submitted by people from across the country.

In January 2001, the Utah Senate declared JELL-O® gelatin the “Official State Snack” of Utah, in an effort to recognize the popularity of the wiggly treat in the state. And, to celebrate, an annual “JELL-O® Week” was proclaimed (the second full week of February) by Governor Michael O. Leavitt. Spokesperson Bill Cosby came to Utah to share in a moment of levity with lawmakers in the State Capitol, and was made an honorary Utah citizen while he was there. More than 14,000 signatures from people in Utah were collected on a petition in support of the Official Snack designation.

JELL-O® gelatin and pudding have been featured and/or mentioned in many Hollywood movies, including Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and teamed up with the video release of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. In addition, they have played parts in Kindergarten Cop, Corrina, Corrina, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Muse, and Reindeer Games.

Today, there are more than 158 products sold under the JELL-O® brand name. With about 300 million boxes of JELL-O® gelatin sold in the United States each year, it’s no wonder that JELL-O® gelatin is “America’s Most Famous Dessert.”