Now Serving Plymouth Rock Gelatine

438_Plymouth_Rocj_Gelatine SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #438

One surefire way to make your brand sound familiar and survive for decades is to connect it with an historic name we already know. Think of Lincoln Logs or John Hancock Insurance or Quaker Oats. But I couldn’t find hide nor hair of this company that appeared soon after the Civil War. (Continued below)

Jell-O didn’t arrive on the American holiday menu until 1897. This company registered its brand in 1905 as Plymouth Rock Phosphateol Gelatine, but the trademark apparently expired in 1986. The company phone number I called in Newton Highlands, MA was out of service. The vintage, six-page, color booklet was donated by a reader of my Web site and offers recipes for jellied asparagus, tomato jelly, mint, jelly and jellied wine. (Early Jell-O shots?) Gelatin is defined as “a flavorless, transparent thickener derived from animal collagen that dissolves when heated and congeals when cooled.” Collagen is defined as “the flesh and connective tissues of vertebrates.” Yummy! Early ads for Plymouth Rock Gelatine show the Pilgrims enjoying cubes of the wiggly dessert treat. Historically that’s possible. Gelatin has been around since at least the Middle Ages, but these days who has time to spend six hours boiling down cattle and pig hooves to get collagen? Another cute ad from the early 20^th century shows how to make a gray blob of gelatin in the shape of – you guessed it – Plymouth Rock. Well, the rock is fake, but at least the gelatin is historically accurate. (Courtesy of SeacoastNH.com with thanks to Judy Dee Sargent)

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BONUS DETAILS

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