How Thanksgiving Forever Ruined Gummy Bears and Jell-O

It's 4:30 AM, and I am still awake. Perfect time to blog.

One thing I was NOT thankful for this Thanksgiving was a certain discovery Nathan made. After dinner, we had to clean out our fridge to make room for all of the leftovers. We decided to put the rest of a ham I had cooked the night before into a Ziploc bag in order to free up some space. As we took out the glass cooking dish the ham was in, we discovered an inch of some gelatinous substance coating the surface of the pan. The ham had cooked in an inch of water and had somehow transformed into jelly overnight.

Nathan, who was assigned the joyous task of putting away the ham, remarked: "I bet this is how they make Jell-O. They soak a ham bone in water overnight and voila!" To this, I said: "Disgusting." And of course thought: impossible.

Twenty minutes later, I was finishing the last dish when Nathan began reading a Wikipedia article for gelatin. It was absolutely shocking:
Gelatin is a translucent, colorless, odorless, brittle, nearly tasteless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones...Gelatin is a protein produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as domesticated cattle, pigs, and horses. The natural molecular bonds between individual collagen strands are broken down into a form that rearranges more easily...Gelatin is derived mainly from pork skins, pork and cattle bones, or split cattle hides.

AND THE KICKER:

Gelatin can also be prepared at home. Boiling certain cartilaginous cuts of meat or bones will result in gelatin being dissolved into the water. Depending on the concentration, the resulting broth, when cooled, will naturally form a jelly or gel.

So yes, Jell-O IS made out of ground up animal bones, and we DID inadvertently make Jell-O from our honey baked ham. DISGUSTING, right? Now I am certainly no vegetarian, but that is pretty sickening regardless of who you are and what you eat.

I will never look at this food items the same:

The delicious topping for beloved smores:My morning breakfast: Jam- why is it SO GOOD!?Even trifles aren't safe:Even though I HATE this Easter treat, I know a whole bunch of people who absolutely love 'em:However, all of these things pale in comparison to the loss of my most severe pregnancy craving. No lie, when I was pregnant, I wanted these ALL the time. I couldn't get enough. It truly was my only real craving:I guess this means I really was just craving animal bones. And collagen. Sick. Au revoir, Gummy Bears. It was good while it lasted. I will never think of you the same. Ever.

The horror. The horror!