You’ve probably heard about Jell-O’s unsteady fortunes lately.
Business and food writers have been weighing in on that double-digit (19 per cent) drop in sales since 2009 of this one-time mainstay of dessert makers.
We seem to have fallen out of love with Jell-O and although the future doesn’t look good for the wiggly stuff, Kraft marketing teams say it’s not over yet. They remain confident they can revitalize the brand.
Jell-O was invented in Le Roy, New York in 1897. According to the website for the museum of ‘America’s Most Famous Dessert,’ it was a carpenter, experimenting with a cough remedy for his wife, who first concocted a gelatin-based fruit-flavoured dessert. He sold his rights to the product for $450 because he didn’t have the cash to market it. After that it’s a story of Jell-O’s vault to super stardom and the millions upon millions made after that.
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The Jell-O girl would be 100 years old in 2014. She first appeared in ads of the Genesee Pure Food Company in 1904, holding her kettle in one hand and a package of Jell-O in the other.
First flavours were orange, lemon, strawberry, and raspberry. The advent of refrigeration allowed homemakers to easily create fancy, inexpensive sweet desserts, previously the reserve of the rich. Generations of us grew up loving our lime Jell-O marshmallow cottage cheese surprises. Do you remember the Bill Cosby commercials and his “jigglers, a handful of fun?”
Jell-O’s falling star is about how we have changed the way we eat. People are far more finicky about their food nowadays. They want it wholesome and natural and they want to know what’s in it, where it comes from and how it’s made. That’s a dilemma for marketers of a food made with gelatin, food colouring and sugar or artificial sweeteners.
Still, Kraft executives remain optimistic there’s always going to be room for Jell-O. One of their marketing pushes right now is to link Jell-O with childhood, and with creativity and fun in the kitchen. You need only log on to Pinterest or other social media sites these days to see the weird and wacky Jell-O moments some of us are having. (I love the igloos and the Petri dishes!) That’s the culinary creativity that captured the imaginations of dessert-making homemakers from the beginning.
Whatever you may think of Jell-O — a thing of the past and product of the industrial food system, or retro culinary nostalgia and food to play with, there probably will always be some room in our culinary palates for Jell-O.
It was pure whimsy that sent me into the kitchen to make a “rocky road” version of a Jell-O chocolate pie last week, with marshmallows and chocolate chips. While making it I was thinking of the fluffy concoctions we continue to see on dessert tables at teas and community dinners. There’s more than a few of us still around enjoying a Jell-O dessert. Here are two recipes I think you’ll enjoy. You can find plenty more Jell-O recipes on the Kraft Canada website.
Key Lime Cloud Squares
- 1-1/3 c. Honey Maid Graham Crumbs, divided
- 1/4 c. butter, melted
- 3/4 c. boiling water
- 1 pkg. (85 g) Jell-O Lime Jelly Powder
- 1 c. ice cubes
- 1 pkg. (250 g) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 can (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 c. lime juice
- 2 c. thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping
Reserve 1 tbsp. graham crumbs. Mix remaining crumbs with butter; press onto bottom of plastic wrap-lined 9-inch square pan. Refrigerate until ready to use. Add boiling water to jelly powder in medium bowl; stir two minutes until completely dissolved. Add ice; stir two minutes or until thickened. Remove any unmelted ice. Beat cream cheese in medium bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in milk, then lime juice. Add jelly; mix well. Whisk in one cup Cool Whip. Pour over crust. Refrigerate six hours or until firm. Cover with remaining Cool Whip just before serving; sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Use plastic wrap to remove dessert from pan before cutting into squares.
Make ahead: Dessert can be refrigerated up to 24 hours before covering with Cool Whip and sprinkling with reserved crumbs.
Recipe courtesy of Kraft Canada.
Creme Caramel Squares
- 1-1/2 c. Honey Maid Graham Crumbs
- 1/3 c. butter, melted
- 1 pkg. (250 g) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 3-1/4 c. cold milk, divided
- 3 c. thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping, divided
- 1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding
- 1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Butterscotch Instant Pudding
- 1/3 c. caramel ice cream topping
Mix graham crumbs and butter until blended; press onto bottom of 13×9-inch dish. Refrigerate until ready to use. Beat cream cheese, sugar and 1/4 cup milk in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in one cup Cool Whip; spread over crust. Prepare each flavour of pudding mix with 1-1/2 cups milk in separate bowls, beating with whisk 2 minutes. Layer vanilla and butterscotch puddings over cream cheese filling; top with remaining Cool Whip. Refrigerate four hours. Drizzle with caramel topping just before serving.
Variation: Substitute Jell-O Chocolate Instant Pudding for the butterscotch pudding, and chocolate syrup for the caramel topping.
Tip: Save 60 calories and 4 g of total fat, including 2 g of saturated fat, per serving by preparing with Philadelphia Light Brick Cream Cheese Spread, skim milk, Cool Whip Light Whipped Topping, and Jell-O Vanilla and Butterscotch Fat Free Instant Puddings.
Recipe courtesy of Kraft Canada.
