Jel Sert
Encyclopedia
West Chicago, Illinois
West Chicago is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,469 at the 2000 census. It was formerly named Turner Junction after its founder, John B. Turner, president of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1855...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Established in 1926, its primary products are snack foods and beverages.
History and products
The Jel Sert company was named for its original product, a gelatinGelatin
Gelatin is a translucent, colorless, brittle , flavorless solid substance, derived from the collagen inside animals' skin and bones. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food, pharmaceuticals, photography, and cosmetic manufacturing. Substances containing gelatin or functioning in a similar...
dessert mix named by combining the words "jelly" and "dessert". In 1929, Jel Sert created a powdered drink mix called Flavor Aid
Flavor Aid
Flavor Aid is a non-carbonated soft drink beverage made by Jel Sert in West Chicago, Illinois, introduced in 1929. It is sold throughout the United States as an unsweetened powdered concentrate drink mix, similar to Kool-Aid drink mix.-Flavors:...
. These remained Jel Sert's flagship products until the 1960s when the company acquired the Pop-Ice company and its line of frozen ice pop
Ice pop
An ice pop, also referred to in the United States as a popsicle, and in the United Kingdom as an ice lolly, lolly ice or ice lollipop, is a frozen, water-based dessert. It is made by freezing flavored liquid around a stick. Often, the juice is colored artificially...
desserts. Later that decade, Jel Sert introduced Fla-Vor-Ice
Fla-Vor-Ice
Fla-Vor-Ice is the trademark name for a type of frozen ice pop. Unlike traditional ice pops, which include a wooden stick, Fla-Vor-Ice is sold in and eaten out of a cellophane tube. Also unlike traditional pops, they are often sold in liquid form and require the consumer to freeze them at home...
, another freezer pop, to complement its Flavor-Aid line. Fla-Vor-Ice quickly became the leading freezer pop brand in the United States.
In 1991, the company launched the MONDO line of juice drinks and with it a promotional tactic involving the recycleability of their plastic container over conventional individual boxed juice containers.
Otter Pops
Otter Pops
Otter Pops are a brand of frozen snacks sold in the United States. The product consists of a plastic tube filled with flavored sugary liquid. After freezing, one end of the tube is cut off, allowing the frozen juice to be eaten, something like a Popsicle without a stick.-Background:Otter Pops were...
were acquired by the company in 1996. Similar to Jel Sert's other freezer pops, the Otter Pop brand is perhaps the strongest on the United States' West Coast and features flavor-based characters such as Lil' Orphan Orange, Sir Isaac Lime, and Strawberry Short Kook. In 2000, Jel Sert acquired three other trademarks: Wyler's
Wyler's
Wyler's is a brand of food used by Heinz for bouillon and soup, and Jel Sert for soft drinks.Heinz uses it for Wyler's Instant Bouillon, a brand of bouillon cube, and Wyler's Mrs...
, a brand of powdered beverage mixes, and the Royal and My-T-Fine
My-T-Fine
My-T-Fine is a brand of pudding manufactured by Jel Sert, which comes in the following varieties:* Chocolate* Lemon* Vanilla* Butterscotch* Tapioca Vanilla* Chocolate Fudge* Pumpkin* Tiramisu* Sugar-Free Chocolate* Sugar-Free Vanilla...
brands of puddings, pie fillings, and flan
Flan
Crème caramel , flan , or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top...
.