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In 1897, New York carpenter Pearle Bixby Wait trademarked Jell-O and sold it two years later; by 2011 Americans were buying more than 420 million boxes a year

Jell-O went from a New York carpenter’s kitchen experiment to one of America’s most iconic and enduring dessert staples after Pearle Bixby Wait, who invented the fruit-flavored gelatin dessert in 1897, trademarked it and sold the brand two years later. Decades later, the brand’s legacy became a mass-market go-to enjoyed across social classes. It eventually developed a second life as a popular ingredient in gelatin shots. By the 1980s, Jell-O shots had become increasingly popular. Beyond its heritage, the brand has a bizarre and almost accidental backstory in food history. Before becoming the billion-dollar brand that the public knows today,…

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