Sep 17, 2023 2 min read abecedarium

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Jell-O, Jelly bean, Jackfruit, Jacaranda, Jalapeno, Jay

ccomposite Inner-Selfie — An Image from The Jell-O Timeline

For die-hard Jell-O fans, and just the unusually curious, the video reveals the skinny about the inner workings and alchemy that makes Jell-O what it is, while bracketing the source of the material itself. (TL;DR – it's a hydrogel - another of those liminal states of things that are neither this nor that, and also both.)

Video Explainer - The Physical Chemistry of Wobbly Jelly

We are all like Jell-O?

There's a metaphor lurking in Jello-O about our own jiggly selves. It's in there somewhere... the wobblyness, the apparent solidity but not really, the neither-nor, the encapsulation of other things. There's something about an alchemy of nodes and interlocking agents, something about permeability that is gradually replaced by saturation, something about an outer shell containing yummy goodness inside... Anyway, if there is a metaphor in there, I don't know what it is.

Jell-O is from America - created in Le Roy, New York, by Pearle Bixby Wait, in 1897.

A Senior Citizen Luau? A Samoan Ward dedication?

The “Jell-O Matrix” from No Man Knows My Pastries: The Secret (Not Sacred) Recipes of Sister Enid Christensen

That matrix is just plain weird. Cottage cheese and Lemon Jell-O for a funeral? Mini Marshmallows and Orange Jello-O for a Temple dedication? Carrrots and celery with raspberry for a hospital seige? ...OK

Jell-O shots all around then...

As always, thanks for reading and indulging!