A handbook of invalid cooking

by Mary A. Boland

JELLIES

(FROM GELATINE)

Gelatin is always of animal origin. The gelatinous substance obtained from apples, grapes, cranberries, and other fruits is not gelatin; it is a different material, derived by the action of heat from pectose, a substance which occurs in plants and is closely associated with cellulose. Unprepared gelatin is sometimes distinguished in writing from the gelatine of commerce by the difference of an e in spelling.

Gelatin enters into the composition of all, or nearly all, the tissues of the body. The walls of the microscopic cells of flesh are composed of it. It is found also in cartilage, tendons, connective tissue, bone, and in the larynx and joints. Spiders' webs and the thread of silkworms are gelatin in a liquid state, which solidifies upon exposure to the air. Another kind of gelatin forms the framework of insects, such as the locusts on which John the Baptist fed. It also forms the true skeleton of lobsters, crabs, and shrimps. The edible birds' nests of the Chinese are a delicate kind of gelatin more digestible than some other kinds, for it is made from the saliva of a swallow, and probably contains pepsin. (M. Williams.)

The part which gelatin plays as a food is not well understood. Many experiments have recently been made by scientists on dogs and other animals, to test the value of gelatin in this respect. From these experiments the following conclusions have been drawn: 1. That gelatin alone is not sufficient as a food. 2. That although insufficient it is not worthless. 3. That gelatin is sufficient to sustain life when combined with other substances which would themselves be wholly insufficient if given alone. 4. That gelatin must always be flavored to render it digestible and nutritious.

Mattieu Williams says: "It would seem that gelatin alone, although containing the elements required for nutrition, needs something more to render it digestible. We shall probably not be far from the truth if we picture it to the mind as something too smooth, too neutral, too inert, to set the digestive organs at work, and that therefore it requires the addition of a decidedly sapid something that shall make these organs act."

Gelatin dissolves easily in warm liquid. Albumen coagulates under similar circumstances.

The gelatine of commerce is made from the tissues of animals, particularly from the thick skin of certain portions of the body and from the head and feet. When well flavored and in a liquid state as in broths, or of a tender consistency as in well-made jelly, it is a most desirable food for the sick. Lemon and orange juice, strawberry, raspberry, grape, and indeed any fruit syrup, coffee, cocoa, vanilla, wine, brandy, and Jamaica rum, and strong meat broths which have been cleared, may be used for flavoring. The jelly should not be made hard and tenacious, but tender and jelly-like, though firm.

The phosphated gelatine which may be bought of any grocer is delicious for wine jelly made according to the usual rule for jelly, with the exception of omitting the lemon. Chalmer's and Nelson's are other well-known brands. All jellies made with gelatine are excellent for invalids. They are especially valuable in cases of disease of the intestines, such as typhoid fever and inflammation of the bowels, because, being digested and absorbed, for the most part or entirely, in the stomach, those organs are relieved of effort, at the same time that the system is supplied with a nutritious form of solid food.