Celery and Tomato Flavored Jello

Yuck.

Even if taste wasn't a factor, I can not imagine taking a big bite of jello with my salad.

Brian

I con cur with brian- even fruit wasn't meant to be cold, jiggly, and slimey; but the thought of tomatoes being more gross than they already are makes me want to say no to ketchup forever.

Am I the only one who can think of a ton of uses for savory Jello?

The tomato Jello sounds like an interesting version of gazpacho soup.

Great find!

And I have to agree with the consensus so far...

Ewwwwwwww.

Wrong....just wrong

This doesn't surprise me at all. US cuisine went through a period during which everything had to be coated by or concealed within a thick layer of some sort of gel. There was your fish in aspic and your gelled salads. How gross can you get?

Heh. That's pretty disgusting but I can see them trying that back in the 60's, when every proper housewife was just looking for something new to serve up with dinner. I love reading stuff like this, hope you'll post more like it.

By the way, I've added you to my blogroll. In fact, you're the first one, since it's a new blog. Good job here.

my grandmother used to make lime jello with tuna in it, I never tried it but my sister says its actually good.

My mother in law makes tomato aspic (basically it's tomato-flavored jello). I think she probably would have been one of the people that bought this stuff when they made it. Now she makes it with tomato soup, diced tomatoes, various herbs, and unflavored Knox gelatin. It's not terrible, but you have to get used to it.

The tomato and celery jello were actually very good. We use to make a salad with them cutting up celery onions, and cherry tomatoes. Then my grandmother would add a bit of pepper and a shake of worsthesire sauce....Served on a letttuce leaf with a small dallop of miracle whip mixed with lemon juice. It was something everyone loved, and I wish they were still on the market.

Older recipe books have instructions for making these from scratch. "Tomato aspic" was a favorite of my grandmother's. Imagine a tomato juice base, seasoned with savory herbs, combined with Knox gelatine, and chilled. It was the perfect base for a mound of homemade chicken or shrimp salad or a tossed salad. In lieu of fruit, she added olives, tiny baby shrimp, chopped celery, or other savory bits to the mixture before chilling. Tomato aspic can be very tasty if you season the juice carefully and correctly--and it's not a bit slimy. It's thicker and cloudier than actual jello. Grandmother had special individual ring molds she used just for this dish. As for calories, a serving would have about the same number as an equivalent serving of tomato juice--plus any add-ins. Look for it in mid-Fifties cookbooks--Fanny Farmer, Good Housekeeping, etc.

I can remember some jello dishes in my house with floating pieces of celery and what not. I think I was okay with it as a child; it was a fun way to eat veggies I wasn't wild about at the time. It's funny to be reminded of it.

I actually quite like tomato aspic, though obviously its fallen out of favor judging from most of the comments above. You can also do the same thing with broth -- beef broth is most common, with some sliced vegetables in it. This I'm not such a fan of, but its worth trying if you like the tomato.

I'm curious what "Italian Salad Flavor" is though

Even if it was meant for salads, it would still be weird considering that most salad lovers don't include jello in their salad.