Everyone loves Jello, I mean most of us who grew up in America in the 80s or 90s can sing part of the ad, and may be thinking J-E-L-L-O in a somewhat deep voice. But do you know the science behind jello? I thought this would make a great science lesson to throw in one day as a bit of fun kitchen science, however it did not turn out how I wanted.
I had bits and pieces of ideas for this month’s Poppins Book Nook, but didn’t know for sure what I wanted to do for chemistry, and somehow in my mind The Witches (affiliate link, which we’d just finished reading and were looking for snacks for) and Jello or gummies seemed like they went together in my head, I don’t really know why. It just did.
Future Ticia 2025 will tell you it’s because The Witches has the poisoned candy.
Learning about the science behind jello
We tried out two recipes, the usual recipe on the box, and a gummy recipe from Almost Unschoolers (she’s almost always successful in the kitchen), but more on that later.
First, though, to find out the science behind Jell-O.
The kids were quite fascinated by all of this, and now it’s time to make our jello and our gummies……
So, let’s pretend I don’t have 20 photos looking like this, and I actually have pictures of the process, I’d draw it out for you, but the morning is coming all too soon, and I’m showing the kids the reality of public school this week, much to my dismay (I have to get up at 6:00, there’s a reason I homeschool, and this stinks, but the kids needed a “lesson”).
So the gummy recipe says mix 1 box of flavored gelatin and 3 boxes of unflavored gelatin. This would be why you read the recipe before shopping. All I’d remembered was 4 boxes of gelatin, so we’d bought 4 boxes of FLAVORED Jello.
No problem, I thought, it’ll just have an extra strong flavor.
But just in case I hedged my bets, and instead of making the 3 different flavors of gummies we’d talked about, we only made 1. And 2, no, make that 3 types of Jello, because I’d chosen some too.
So, as I’m frantically following her directions and mixing the powder in, the kids are building Jello box monsters. And cutting up the empty boxes to create accessories.
Accesories!!!!!!!! (Yes, that needs like 10 exclamation points, I think I’m missing a few)!!!!!!!!
Eventually, I have it more or less mixed in, so I proceed to the heating step and the pouring-in step and set that mess aside.
Now to make real Jello, but you know. I am terrible at making jello, watching this movie and reading the gummy instructions up above gave me some insights into part of my problem. Are you ready for it?
I don’t really mix it completely. There’s almost always a fine layer of powder I can see at the bottom because I get tired of stirring the powder. So I end up with a slightly gummy layer at the bottom.
So we put the jello in the fridge to set up, and left the gummies out on the counter because I didn’t remember seeing anything about putting them in the fridge.
We came back to start watching The Witches (affiliate link, and I will warn you it’s somewhat scary for kids; my kiddos spent the entire evening cuddling), and prepped lots of snacks.
Check out our The Witches book club.
It hadn’t set. At all, despite it being over 3 hours later. How long does Jello take to set?
So I checked on the gummies and they weren’t set either, so into the frig they went. We happily ate our other snacks and we had a quick chemistry lesson about the science behind dry ice, and how the carbon dioxide instantly sublimates, going straight from solid to gaseous form.
However, the kids were suitably impressed by our witches’ brew to make up for the failed gummies and jello.
Saturday, we went to eat our jello and it was still rather jiggly, but by SUNDAY it was ready to eat…..
Someday, something will go right in the kitchen. This was not that someday.
Oh well, I keep trying.
You know who is successful with experiments using household items? Maryanne she has a great list, click on it back there.
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