Gelatin

“ When a solution of gelatin is added to the liquors in which wood has been treated by any of the bisulphite or sulphurous acid processes, a body is precipitated in the form of a caoutchouc-like mass which can be dissolved in neutral sodium sulphite solution, or in weakly alkaline solutions, and can be reprecipitated on addition of alum to the solution. The substance consists of a compound of the gelatin with the non-cellulose constituents resembling, but not identical with, as has been supposed, the precipitate obtained by adding tannic acid to a solution of gelatin. ”

“ The second class of protein compounds comprises the gelatinoids, gelatin being their leading constituent. It is found in flesh, tendons, cartilage and bone; in fact, it exists in all the tissues of the body, for the walls of most of the microscopic cells of which the tissues are composed contain gelatin.
Exp. Boil a pound of lean meat freed from tendons, fat, and bone, in a pint of water for three hours; then set the liquid away to cool. Jelly resembling calf's-foot jelly will be the result. The cell-walls of the flesh have been dissolved by the long-continued action of heat and liquid. ”

“ Referring to the articles Glue, Isinglass and Size for the special applications of these forms of gelatin, we here enumerate the more important uses of ordinary gelatin. In photography it is employed in carbon-processes, its use depending on the fact that when treated with potassium bichromate and exposed to light, it is oxidized to insoluble compounds; it plays a part in many other processes. A solution of gelatin containing readily crystallized salts—alum, nitre, &c.—solidifies with the formation of pretty designs ”

“ It is especially desirable for children—and how they love it! While to the housewife, it is a delicious dessert that may be made in a minute—yet capable of so many toothsome changes that “time cannot stale its infinite variety.” Nor (blessed thought!) in spite of its charm to a sweet tooth, is it fattening at all!
Of course you want the very purest gelatin in the world! On [Pg 6] general principles, and because it’s so invaluable for children. You know you can trust Royal Fruit Flavored Gelatin quality ... because for years you have used Royal Baking Powder, and know its superlative standard. ”

“ Gelatin.—The best stock and the best beef tea are not necessarily those which, when cold, form a jelly. The properties to which beef tea owes its valuable stimulating power are not derived from gelatin, but from the juices of the meat; of which juices more can be extracted from a beef-steak cut from a recently-killed animal, than from one that has been hung for some time, and yet obtained in a much larger proportion from ANY KIND of beef-steak than from the highly gelatinous shin of beef. ”

“ Gelatin in this form is more useful to those who cannot eat much meat or other albuminoid food, as the nitrogen of the gelatin replaces the nitrogen of albumin, in the formation of many digestive and other secretions of the body, if not in its constructive processes.
Extractives.—It is to the changes the extractives undergo during the process of cooking that meat owes much of its flavour, particularly the outside of roast meat. The flesh of old animals contains more of these substances than that of young ones ”

“ Add to cold gelatin mixture, turn into mould and chill. Stir occasionally while gelatin is stiffening to prevent the fruit from settling—or chill Royal Fruit Flavored Gelatin mixture only until it begins to thicken, then mix in the fruit; turn into mould and chill. To mould fruit in design use cold liquid Royal Gelatin. Set mould to be decorated in pan of cracked ice or cold water. Pour in enough Gelatin mixture to form a thin coating on bottom and on sides of mould. ”

“ Animals fed exclusively on gelatin die of starvation. But when mixed with other food, especially with substances abounding in albumen, casein, or fibrin, gelatin may be useful as an aliment, and serve directly to nourish the gelatinous tissues. (Liebig.) Hence gelatin is a fitting substance to form part (but only a part) of the diet of convalescents, as it conveys nutrition directly to these tissues, without tasking the diminished powers of life for its conversion ”

“ To preserve in permanent form all that is necessary is to flood them with absolute alcohol. This treatment removes the ice, thus leaving a lasting framework of gelatin which may be preserved indefinitely. In order to do this, as soon as the gelatin has become quite dry it should be either varnished, flowed with an alcoholic solution of clear shellac, or the gelatin may be rendered insoluble by contact, for a few moments, with a solution of potassium bichromate, and subsequent exposure to sunlight. ”

“ The pieces, after being treated as above, are steeped in boiling water for a few minutes, wiped dry, and shaken together in a bag to remove the internal pellicle; after which they are cut into squares or dice to disguise them, and finally dipped into a hot solution of gelatin to varnish them. In this state the article is called ‘GELATINE BRUT FIN,’ Used to make soup. It keeps better than the cakes of portable soup. When less carefully prepared, it is also used to make glue for fine work. See Bone gelatin.
GELEE (pour le Goitre) . See Liniment of Iodide of Potassium. ”

“ There is a common protein, gelatin, which is used a great deal for food, but which by itself will not serve either for repair or growth because it not only lacks some of the amino acids that are in living protoplasm, but also some that are lost in the process of wastage. Gelatin is useful as a food, therefore, only in combination with other proteins that contain the necessary amino acids; or after the nitrogen has been taken out, it becomes a good fuel. ”

“ The properties of fibrin, so far as cookery is concerned, place it between albumen and gelatin; it is coagulable like albumen, and soluble like gelatin, but in a minor degree. Like gelatin, it is tasteless and non-nutritious alone. This has been proved by feeding animals on lean meat, which has been cut up and subjected to the action of cold water, which dissolves out the albumen and other juices of the flesh, and leaves only the muscular fibre and its envelopes. ”

“ The goodness of commercial gelatin intended for food is readily proved by pouring boiling water over it, and digesting the two together for a short time. If it is pure and wholesome, its colour remains unaltered, and during its solution it continues entirely free from smell. The resulting solution and jelly are also odourless, neutral to test-paper, free from unpleasant taste, and perfectly transparent. If it forms a yellow gluey-looking mass, and evolves an offensive odour, it should be rejected as of inferior quality, and unfit for culinary purposes. ”

“ It would seem that gelatin alone, although containing the elements required for nutrition, requires something more to render it digestible. We shall probably be not 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 it therefore requires the addition of a decidedly sapid something that shall make these organs act. ”

“ GELATIN, FIBRIN, AND THE JUICES OF MEAT. Gelatin is a very important element of animal food; it is, in fact, the main constituent of the animal tissues, the walls of the cells of which animals are built up being composed of gelatin. ”

“ Soak gelatin in cold water about 2 or 3 minutes, then pour over it the boiling liquid; add saccharin and fruit juice, strain through cloth into wet molds. Set in cold place to stiffen; when firm, unmold. Serve with whipped cream, or pour liquid into baskets made from orange or grapefruit, hollowed out and the edges scalloped, or pour into shallow pans, and cut in 1⁄2-inch blocks when firm and serve on a bed of whipped cream. ”

“ The Laminaria is first extracted with water, and the residue with sodium carbonate; the filtrate is acidified with hydrochloric acid and the precipitated alginic acid washed and bleached. It is then dissolved in an alkali, the solution concentrated, and cooled down by running over horizontal glass plates. Flexible colourless sheets resembling animal gelatin are thus obtained. In America the weed is simply boiled with water, the solution filtered, and cooled to a thick jelly. Irish moss is treated in the same way. Both tengusa and Irish moss yield a gelatin suitable for most purposes ”

“ Gelatin has a marked affinity for water, abstracting it from admixture with alcohol, for example. Solid gelatin steeped for some hours in water absorbs a certain amount and swells up, in which condition a gentle heat serves to convert it into a liquid; or this may be readily produced by the addition of a trace of alkali or mineral acid, or by strong acetic acid. In the last case, however, or if we use the mineral acids in a more concentrated form, the solution obtained has lost its power of solidifying, though not that of acting as a glue. ”

“ This recipe is intended only for retail confectioners, as large manufacturers of candies do not, or would not, attempt to use this formula in the manufacture of Gum Drops; nevertheless, it pays to make them.
Soak 4 pounds of gelatin in 3 gallons of water a half hour; now take 30 pounds sugar, 8 pounds glucose, and add only 1 pint of water, and cook to 240°; then add the gelatin batch and flavor vanilla or strawberry; stir only one minute, and then set the kettle off on barrel; let it stand a few minutes, then skim off the top and run in starch or any style of molds you wish. ”

“ The jelly existing in the tins shows that some is dissolved and hydrated, if my theory of the cookery is right; but there does not appear to be as much of this jelly as would be formed by the stewing of a corresponding quantity of meat at a lower temperature. Some of the membranous gelatin is, I suspect, dehydrated when the highest temperature of the process is attained—i.e. when the concentration of the juices raises the boiling point of their solution [124] considerably above that of pure water. ”

“ First dissolve 15 ounces gelatin in 3 quarts of hot water and set it to one side; now place in kettle 15 pounds glucose, no water; stir and cook to a hard ball, or about 248°; then set it off on barrel and add 15 pounds XXXX sugar, then pour in the batch, through a strainer, the 3 quarts of gelatin water, then pour the whole lot together and flavor vanilla; now place in your marshmallow beater and beat until the batch is good and stiff; pour it on slab; see that the slab is heavily sprinkled with XXXX sugar, then with a palette knife spread it even and sprinkle XXXX sugar over the top ”

“ Camphor and other substances have been added to blasting gelatin to render it more solid and less sensitive. Some modifications of blasting gelatin, e.g. gelignite, contain wood-meal and such oxygen-containing salts as potassium nitrate. ”

“ Meat is valuable chiefly for its protein, fat, and mineral salts. The juices of the meat in the muscle cells contain nitrogenous extractive materials which give flavor, and are possibly stimulating, but they have no food value. From the bone and also from the connective tissue, gelatin is dissolved in cooking. Gelatin is a protein, but differs in certain chemical properties from other proteins, and cannot be used as the only source of nitrogen. ”

“ Composed of mineral matter—phosphates, &c.—fat and gelatinous substances, the phosphates are used as artificial manures, the fat is worked up by the soap-maker and chandler, and the gelatinous matter forms the basis of the gelatin and glue of commerce; while by the dry distillation of bones from which the gelatin has been but partially removed, there are obtained a carbonaceous residue—animal charcoal—and a tarry distillate, from which “bone oil” and bone pitch are obtained. ”

“ Pure glutin or gelatin is obtained by treating buckshorn, etc., with water containing hydrochloric acid, until the phosphate of lime which serves, so to say, as a frame for the glue-yielding substance, is dissolved, and the organic tissue called collagen or ossein, remains behind. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Each package of Royal Fruit Flavored Gelatin weighs 31⁄4 ozs. and measures 1⁄2 cup or 8 tablespoons.
Each package of 31⁄4 ozs. calls for two cups or one pint water or other liquid and makes over one pint jelly, or sufficient to serve six persons. ”

“ That gelatine extracted from bones, being identical with that extracted from other parts—and bones being richer in gelatine than other tissues, and able to afford two thirds of their weight of it—there is an incontestable advantage in making them serve for nutrition in the form of soup, jellies, paste, etc., always, however, taking care to provide a proper admixture of the other principles in which the gelatine-soup is defective. ”

“ By boiling, it dissolves more readily than isinglass, but with greater difficulty than gelatine. A 1 to 2 per cent. solution is easily filtered through paper or linen, and when cold forms a solid jelly clear as water and without taste or odor. Jelly prepared with one-half per cent. of Chinese gelatine is more solid than one prepared with 4 per cent. of French white gelatine, retains its consistency longer, and will stand a temperature of 86° to 122° F. before becoming liquid. Used for jellies, or mixed with other foods, it does not impart to them a glue taste never wanting in bone gelatine. ”