Grandma's Cream Cheese Jell-O Salad {Vintage Family Recipe} (2024)

FAQs

Why was Jell-O so popular in the 50s? ›

These products made it easier for homemakers to store and prepare food, and Jello became a popular dessert option because it was simple to make and required minimal cooking or preparation.

Savory Jell-O salads fell out of fashion, replaced by tossed salads and a fad for sun-dried tomatoes. This was also when the efforts of the women's movement began to bear fruit: Women were entering the workforce in unprecedented numbers, and more and more women were heads of households.

The name 'jello salad' comes from the genericization of the brand name Jell-O, a common gelatin product in the United States. The origins of jello salad can be traced back to a dish called 'perfection salad' ( c. 1904) by Mrs. John E.

“Jell-O salads first became popular in the 1930s but reached their highest expression as part of the processed food school of cooking that sprang up after the war,” said Wyman. This was an era of packaged foods and TV dinners, and it was the golden age of gelatin desserts.

Jell-O shifted to single-serve cups and more convenient options as competition for snacks and desserts grew. Kraft in the early 2000's shifted the focus of Jell-O's advertising away from kids and toward adults. It pitched sugar-free Jell-O, for example, as a treat for Atkins dieters.

Although the exact history of how Peter Cooper created the product is unknown to us today, we do know that in 1845 he secured a patent (US Patent 4084) for a gelatin dessert powder called “portable gelatin.” His invention was a basic edible gelatin that had no flavoring to it.

Bromolain in pineapple, papain in papaya and actinidin in kiwi are all enzymes capable of breaking down proteins, hence the warning that these fruits cannot be used in Jell-O. But canned fruits are fine because the pasteurization process they undergo destroys the proteolytic enzymes.

There are a few reasons: Jell-O is easy to swallow and digest, making it suitable for patients who have difficulty eating solid foods or have digestive issues. It's smooth texture and mild flavor make it more tolerable for those with sensitive stomachs or who are recovering from surgery.

People were still eating colorful gelatin, but they were no longer serving it as a main course as frequently as they used to. These days, it's more of a quirky novelty snack than an accepted meal option.

Jell-O, particularly, was able to capitalize on the low prices of their products and the nostalgia women felt toward the aspics prepared by their grandmothers in the Victorian era.

What is Jell-O short for? ›

The name comes from the generalisation of the brand name Jell-O, a common gelatin product in the United States.

The first popular Jell-O salad was Perfection Salad, invented in 1904 by Mrs. John E. Cook of Pennsylvania (via Recipe Curio). While Mrs.

First trademarked in 1897, Jell-O began its rise in popularity with the introduction in 1904 of the prophetic slogan "America's Most Famous Dessert." Soon accompanying the slogan was the blonde Jell-O Girl, an icon of the product for almost half a century.

“Gelatin was very easy to prepare by mid-century cooking standards, and storing foods suspended within gelatin helped those foods stay fresh longer,” explains Ruth Clark, author and blogger at Mid Century Menu.

Suffice it to say, it never did “jell” with the American public. In 1897, Pearle Wait, a carpenter in LeRoy, was developing a cough remedy and laxative tea in his home. He experimented with gelatine and came up with a fruit flavored dessert which his wife, May, named JELL-O.

Jell-O was massively popular in the 1920s and it sure did help that it is one of the most simple things to make. It was often said in advertisem*nts that even children could make it. Plus, women were becoming empowered to take control of their kitchens.