For the record, Whole Foods Market does carry Knox gelatin in packets. I’ve used them in the cooking classes I teach there regularly. Been with the company for close to 5 years and I’ve never seen a store that doesn’t carry it in my region. It’s certainly not on any sort of ethical banned list or anything.

WFM also carries marshmallows that are made with fish gelatin for passover as fish gelatin is approved by many Orthodox Jewish Kashrut authorities. Interestingly enough I read years ago of certain Kashrut authorities digging into the chemistry of dry gelatin – and coming up with a decision that pork derived gealtin was so far removed from the animal that it didn’t qualify as pork any more and as such some, but not all, pork derived gelatin can actually be certified Kosher. The majority of approved kosher gelatin is derived from fish heads so even orthodox jews who keep kosher can find themselves in an ethical food delimma.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m-a-gonna go cut me a thick slice of duck foie gras and sear that puppy in some applewood bacon fat with a dusting of ground ginger snaps. Seriously. Got a grade B half lobe in the fridge.

Cheers and thanks for hosting such a thoughtful and in many ways inspiring blog.

What I like about having a variety of grocery stores is having the chance to choose who’s ethics you agree with the most. Sure, sometimes you just need a box of gelatin but most times, it’s nice to find a grocery store that agrees with your values. There is likely a grocery store for every kind of person.

This is one of those “recipes” that I don’t have written down. The gist is I puree the flavor component and fold it into barely sweetened whipped up whipped cream that had a bit of dissolved gelatin added to it. The gelatin will then help preserve the structure of the whipped cream.

Here’s a brief guess on amounts:
+ 1 packet of unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1-2 Tbs hot water, set aside briefly

+ 1 pint of whipped cream
Whip in a mixer and drizzle in ~1 tbs of maple syrup or a sprinkle of sugar. Add the dissolved gelatin and bring the whipped cream to stiff peaks.

+ fold into your sweetened whipped cream the flavor component of your choice (pudding, fruit puree, sweetened cream cheese, cake chunks…).

Refrigerate in individual serving cups to set up the gelatin.

The one I was getting ready to make with this particular grocery store excursion was a banana whipped cream mousse.

cheers
–McAuliflower

Oh, and Maija is correct about shelf space for some items. We just found out that our remodel has been post-poned indefinitely, although they are knocking down walls to expand the bakery.

Oh yeah, we just got a new deli manager, and our main cook is leaving (who has no idea how to taste his food, drives me crazy), so hopefully the deli will stop sucking so bad.

later!

thanks so much for checking on on this and getting the real story Katez0r! I won’t spread anymore anti-gelatin rumors

cheers
–McAuliflower

I feel like using “waste” from the icky-meat industry is precisely what prevents the “icky-meat” industry from being wasteful. Surely to just throw away bones and hooves would be far more of a shame?

Did your Whole Foods ever explain why they didn’t stock it?

We have a new Whole Foods here, with the longest meat display case in their Midwest chain.

I’ll have to see if gelatin is on the shelf. Maybe it has something to do with how it’s produced – as someone said above, the product doesn’t meet their standards.