General Foods Corp, 1955

"It's national use-up-your-leftovers-in-a-Jell-O-salad week!" (1959)

Jello Biafra, a punk candidate for mayor of San Francisco1979.

Surprise sauces from JELL-O Instant Pudding, 1957 ad

So… is jell-o a required snack for 911 Thursdays now? Making that grocery list…

That pudding looks more like, well … not pudding.

Parents Magazine - May 1953

This week, our editors recommend stories about:

The decimation of a national park.

The survival of Texas Monthly.

An enslaved couple’s daring escape.

Scheduling a death.

The future of jelly.

All in this week’s Top 5!

Milestone Monday

On this day, May 15 in 1856, the American fantasy writer L. Frank Baum, author of the beloved Oz stories, was born in Chittenango, New York. Baum was remarkably prolific, not only penning about twenty Oz novels, but also scores of short stories, other separate novels, and several series of novels, some under his own name and others under at least seven different pseudonyms. We don’t hold the original edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), but we do hold a few early editions of other titles, including this little 1932 booklet, Ozma and the Little Wizard, published in Chicago by Baum’s main publisher Reilly & Lee Co.

Ozma and the Little Wizard was originally one of the short stories in the Little Wizard Stories of Oz, six tales that were first issued as separate, small "Oz books in miniature" in 1913, and then in a collected edition in 1914 with illustrations by John R. Neill. All were published by Reilly & Lee predecessor Reilly & Britton. In the tale, Princess Ozma discovers in a tour of her kingdom with the Wizard that her subjects have been troubled by the pranks and harassment of a trio of imps. The Wizard tries turning them into other living things, which only results in a series of slapstick misadventures. He finally solves the problem by turning them into three inanimate buttons that he wears on his coat. Our later edition appears to have been published with the support of Jell-O and holds several ads and recipes illustrated with Oz characters.

It should not go without mentioning that despite writing wondrous tales that have been beloved by generations, L. Frank Baum also held racist beliefs and genocidal thoughts towards Indigenous Americans, and wrote that in order to preserve the progress of white people, indigenous peoples needed to be exterminated. In 2006, two descendants of Baum apologized to the Sioux nation for any hurt that their ancestor had caused. A sad note to end on, especially for someone who has delighted both children and adults with his stories for over 100 years.

View posts on other books by L. Frank Baum.

View other Milestone Monday posts.

Crown Jewel Jell-o Mold

For @nostalgiamonth's "Food" prompt. The classic Jell-O recipe book, first published in 1962 by the General Foods Corporation as far as I could find. There's no date inside my copy of it.

Powdered Jell-O gelatin was first introduced in America in 1897, as a way to make gelatin-based dishes quicker and easier to make. It's popularity soared in the 1930s with the advent of electric refrigeration, with sales peaking in 1968, after which they began a slow decline over the next two decades. As more and more women entered the work force, they didn't have time or energy to craft elegantly molded desserts and salads to show off their creativity in the kitchen, at least not on any kind of a regular basis. By the late '80s, with sales having decreased by 50% since their peak, the brand changed to marketing their product as a kid's snack, and selling it pre-made in plastic cups. I can't imagine anything more boring, so let's return to the sixties, when Jell-O briefly offered such flavours as celery, Italian Salad, Mixed Vegetables, and Seasoned Tomato to use as bases for their salad recipes. None of them lasted long, however although personally if I wanted to encase cole slaw or potato salad ingredients in Jell-O, the Italian Salad or Celery flavours sound much more appealing than adding them to a fruit flavour. So get ready to add some veggies to fruit gelatin! Mm, doesn't this Vegetable Trio Loaf look delicious?

You could also try the Barbecue Salad, which doesn't actually feature any barbeque sauce in the basic recipe, but which does offer suggestions for extra flavour!

Ingredients: 1 package Lemon or Orange Jell-O 3 Oz 1 1/4 cups hot water 1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt Dash of pepper Directions Dissolve Jell-O in hot water. Add tomato sauce and other ingredients. Blend. Pour into individual molds. Chill until firm. Place on crisp greens with mayonnaise. For extra spiciness, add any of the following before chilling: onion juice, seasoning or celery salt, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce or horseradish.

If you are having Uncertain Thoughts about the edibility of this recipe, don't worry! You can simply watch this brave soul who made and taste-tested a bunch of vintage Jell-O recipes in her New Joy of Jell-O Project. (Fascinating viewing, and while I'm not going to spoiler you, I will say that not all of the recipes got a complete thumbs down, some much to her surprise.)

Or there's Chicken Mousse, if you need something to serve up at your next Sunday luncheon if you want the guests never to come back.

Last, if you by now are desperate to cleanse your palette with a more fruit-based dessert dish, I offer the Avocado Strawberry Ring, since avocados seems to be a big thing right now. I'm not a fan myself, but if you like them, this recipe got a passing grade, and since the strawberries are only a garnish for the center of the ring, you can substitute any other fresh fruit of your preference. I'd think a smaller berry like blueberries or blackberries would like nice, myself. Or cherries.

And if anyone grew up on any fancy Jell-O recipes, I'd love to hear about them -- both the good and the bad.

The Genesee Pure Food Co, 1923

“General Foods Products: Friends of the Family” (1951)

Mixed Vegetable Jell-O ad from 1964

Joys of Jell-o Gelatin, 1981

Ever since that one poll - which of these abysmal glops from the midwestern united states would you deign to consume - I've been sort of obsessed with jello. I had never made it before, and it's not something I even usually eat, but now it's my adhd special interest.

I have made it three times now. I made a cherry version of the strawberry pretzel salad from the poll (surprisingly good). I did plain orange jello with mandarin oranges in (A+ would make again). And a raspberry whip with frozen blueberries. (This is the only one I won't repeat. It's not bad, but it's not great, and it looks like dayglow pond scum with frog eggs.)

I've been looking at vintage molds and reading about the history of gelatin foods and I got a memoir by the heir to the Jell-O company fortune from the library, though I haven't started it yet.

I may or may not talk about it here. Please block the tags if you do not want to look at or hear about gelatin based food substances.