You always hear about horses and the glue factory, but there aren’t as many horses around and dying off since they invented cars.
Does gelatin come from all processed animals? Chickens even?
And doe people have much gelatin in their joints?
I believe that the substance that’s used to make gelatin (or perhaps it precursor) is called collagen. There’s a Cecil column on this issue. I have the book version and will check to see if it’s available online.
Here you go.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_103.html
(And yes, people have collagen. Green Jello is People!)
I think they always used more cattle (and maybe pigs) than horses in making gelatine. My understanding is that they used hides as well as hooves and other random connective tissue.
There used to be a big General Foods gelatine plant on Route 93 north of Boston, near the Montvale Ave. exit. The sign isn’t there any more, and I don’t know if the factory still churns it out there.
Kodak, oddly enough, astill has a plant for making gelatine for photography that’s still active in Peabody, Massachusetts. I pass it all the time. I suppose that even in an age of digitial imaghing and of polymers, there’s still a need for animal gelatine in certain emulsions. It’s a pretty big plant, too.
Dang it, Random. You made me laugh coffee up my nose.
You should try making homemade stock sometime. Collegen in bones - even chicken bones - makes a nice glutinous broth. If you boil it down enough, you’ll get glace, which is essentially meat jell-o.