A Bit of a Jello Shot History

Old men say: "Without knowing the past, we cannot be successful in future". Should it be taken into account by Jello Shot Recipe blog? Sure :)

Jello Shot RecipeIt is widely considered that Tom Lehrer was the first inventor of jello shots. It is wrong actually :) The story is quite curious though.

He was in the military and lack of the alcohol was a problem for a good party. No problem - he just took famous Jell-O gelatine and some drinks. One of the good jello shot recipe was vodka plus orange Jell-O (tasty!). That's unbelievable, but guards have let them in to the naval base as nothing like this was ever known!

Let me give you a quote from The Remains of Tom Lehrer:

In 1955 Tom had a different sort of business to take care of -- the U.S. Army. The draft was very much alive during the '50s, and most able-bodied young American men saw military service sooner or later. 'I went into the Army for two years: January 1955 to January 1957. Believe it or not, I enjoyed it ... The only thing I did contribute to the war effort was vodka Jell-O. I was assigned to a naval base, even though I was in the army. We wanted to have a Christmas office party, but the rules forbade all alcoholic "beverages," so a friend of mine and I decided to confront this challenge. Of course there's plum pudding and the like, but you have to eat too much to produce any effect. So she and I experimented with various flavours of Jell-O, various alcoholic ingredients, and various proportions. Obviously, you can't experiment too extensively, because you soon lose your powers of discrimination, but we settled on vodka in orange Jell-O -- same recipe as on the box, only with vodka instead of the cold water. I have heard that daiquiris are good in lime Jell-O. We filled little paper cups with the final product, took them into the base past the guards, and nobody said anything. It was a very nice party.'

Great idea, isnt' it? But wait! Who was the first one then, you ask?

There is one outstanding book existing - How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon Vivant's Companion by Jerry Thomas, which is dated 1862 (!). It had plenty of cocktails and one jello shot recipe was just imperceptible. I made a screenshot of it, so you can prepare now the very first jello shot on your own :)

Punch, Orange/Lemon Jell-O - enjoy!



Jello Shot Recipe

11 comments:

Anonymous,  February 11, 2009 at 9:34 PM  

Jello shots are the best, you just need to be careful with them as it is easy to eat too much lol.

I had no idea on the history of the jello shot until now.

TY for sharing.

Unknown April 21, 2011 at 12:35 AM  

Amazing, i'm a french student and i try to make people here discover the beauty of jello shots.
I'm really happy to find such good informations on jello shot.
Great job !

Anonymous,  September 8, 2011 at 8:09 AM  

you know gelatin is made from horse hooves and callogen in skin from old animals that can't be used in stores as products to eat.

Freak September 8, 2011 at 8:51 AM  

Why not? If it is created in proper way..
Sorry, do you know, how wine is created? :) Nothing really pleasant as well, believe me.. Anyway, no one thinks about that..
Also, your favourite tomato grows in the dung and I bet, this does not stop you from eating it :)

Anonymous,  January 24, 2012 at 4:08 AM  

also, if you eat meat, this is one way to use more of the animal - so jello shots are actually an ethical way to get your booze! :)

Freak January 24, 2012 at 8:47 AM  

Lol, never thought of it this way, but damn you're right :))

Gordon Edward July 10, 2012 at 7:21 AM  

Hello,

I just started a website a couple of months back. It's about mixing candy with vodka and reviewing what it tastes like. I document it with step by step guides from how to make things like Jolly Rancher vodka, to bubble gum vodka. I was curious since you have have somewhat fans, would it be possible to do a link exchange? I know you'll probably get only a small trickle of traffic from me, but it is everything I can offer.

The website is http://CandyBooze.com and I update it often.

Freak July 10, 2012 at 12:14 PM  

Hi Gordon

No problems, it is nice to build community around similar topics. Could not find your email - write me - jelloshotrecipe at gmаil

Arty

btc1 April 14, 2017 at 11:06 PM  

Ok I amay not have been the first to make it, but I do believe I was the first to sell it in a public bar. I had never heard of it before so I came up with a liquor jello with lemon jello and tequila at Fiddler Inn in Lexington KY 1978.

Freak April 14, 2017 at 11:11 PM  

Wow, this is interesting! How did you come up with this idea?