The Jiggly History Behind the Ubiquitous Dessert Jell-O

Ted Evans of Weird History Food explained the jiggly history behind the gelatin-based dessert Jell-O, noting how its original inventor, Pearl Bixby Wait, sold his idea to his Le Roy, New York neighbor, Orator Frank Woodward for just $450 in 1897 after Wait's door-to-door venture failed.

Woodward, under the label of the Genesee Pure Food Company, would go on to make millions of dollars with the use of clever advertising, recipe books, all of which reinforced the fact that Jell-O was an inexpensive sweet treat.

Woodward took one look at Jell-O and decided it wasn't just some failed kitchen experiment it was a potential gold mine but first he had to make people interested so he marketed it like his life depended on it.

It didn't take much for Jell-O to become a household name. It was sold to General Foods (which later became Kraft Heinz), and pretty soon it was everywhere - hospitals, schools, and even prisons. It was flexible. It could be served sweet or, as was popular in the mid-1900s, it could be used in a savory dish. While sales sagged in the 1980s, a new trend was happening on college campuses. Jell-O shots. In other words, Jell-O is an international staple that is found everywhere.

Jell-0 has become the almost universal shorthand for wobbly desserts. ...These days Jell-O is less about family dinners and more about hospital trays, school lunch food fights, and questionable party decisions involving vodka. But despite the weird associations, Jell-O isn't going anywhere.