There are records of a type of savory jelly been made, and served in the royal courts in England in the Middle Ages. It was probably the first functional food, used in Europe, when gelatin was discovered in 1682, by Denis Papin, a Frenchman, while conducted experiments and research on the subject. It resulted in the discovery of a method of removing the glutinous material in animal bones by boiling. His experiments resulted in a method of removing the glutinous material from animal bones by boiling. It has no taste, no odor, and when combined with liquid, no color, but it is pure protein.
In the early part of the 19th century, food manufacturers had been experimenting with gelatin, but none were able to come up with an appealing and usable product.
Gelatin is used in culture media for determining gelatinolysis by bacteria. Gelatin was the first gelling agent used to solidify liquid culture media, thus bacterial counts could be determined and isolation of pure cultures obtained. In 1881 Robert Koch demonstrated a new technique at the International Medical Congress in London.
Robert Koch evaluated media such as coagulated egg albumen, starch paste and an aseptically cut slice of a potato, but then moved to a meat extract with added gelatin. The resulting ‘nutrient gelatin’ was poured onto flat glass plates which were inoculated and placed under a bell jar.
However, when using gelatin incubation temperature of 20° C was required and it was observed that many organisms were capable of liquefying the gelatin. Agar eventually replaced gelatin as a solidifying agent.
During 1800 – 1815 – Nutritional value of gelatin was recognized as early as the Napoleonic Wars when the French used it as a source of protein during the English blockade.
In 1833 the first gelatin capsules started to be used to help mask the taste of unpalatable medicines. The first factories specializing in producing these capsules started production in the 1870’s.
In 1845 Peter Cooper 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. But the product allowed sweetness and flavoring to be added to it by using fruit juices and sugar.
In 1895, Pearl B. Wait, a cough syrup manufacturer from Le Roy, New York who dealt in patent bought the patent from Peter Cooper. By adding fruit syrup to gelatin, Wait turned Cooper’s gelatin dessert into a pre-packaged commercial product. Mr. Wait’s wife eventually changed the name of the product to “Jell-O.”
History of gelatin
