# What is that jelly in SPAM?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 6, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581 "2002-05-06T18:12:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@satanslawyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/satanslawyer)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581/1 "2002-05-06T18:12:32Z")
You know that gel/jelly in SPAM? What is that stuff? One of my co-workers said that the same stuff is in MRE’s. Another co-worker (a big fan of SPAM) says that he loves the jelly. In fact he uses it as a grease when he fries up his SPAM. This can’t be healthy!
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### Author:  [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581/2 "2002-05-06T18:17:28Z")
It is the gelatinized broth from the cooking/canning process. It is primarily water, and fat, with a bit of gelatin, either naturally included from the pig parts used to make spam, or added in during the process. It is neither more, nor less wholesome than Spam itself.
## Tris
Cabbage: A common kitchen vegetable, as large, and as wise a man’s head. A. Bierce
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### Author:  [@Amfet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amfet)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581/3 "2002-05-06T18:32:53Z")
It is gelatin and it’s there to help keep moisture in the meat product and not in a pool on the bottom of the can. Basically it helps the product stay moist and delicious for years…well moist anyway
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### Author:  [@Amfet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amfet)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2002, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581/4 "2002-05-06T18:41:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> One of my co-workers said that the same stuff is in MRE’s
I cant comment on the taste but I do remember the “ham” version of the MRE was not gelatin coated, and was in a packet of briney water never had spam, never did manage to take a bite of the MRE ham, did spill the water tho…
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### Author:  [@bmerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmerton)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581/5 "2002-05-06T20:10:04Z")
It’s called ‘aspic’.
same as in pork pies etc.
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### Author:  [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581/6 "2002-05-06T22:12:49Z")
My source: _Spam: a Biography_ by Carolyn Wyman. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1999. Page 35, from a sidebar entitled “The Lowdown on the Slippery Stuff”:
> [@](#):
>
> Even people who can get past their fears about what’s in Spam often have a problem with the clear, gelatinous material that comes with it and gives it a distinctive “glug, glug” sound when you shake the can.
>
> What _is_ that stuff? In a word, gelatin. Like Jell-O, Spam gel is basically the glutinous material that comes from cooking animal tissue. Unlike Jell-O, Spam’s gelatin is an unbidden and, for the most part, unwanted by-product of cooking Spam in the can – and not, as many assume, an ingredient added to help it slide out.
>
> …
>
> Retired Hormel production manager Helmer Peterson has an answer to the “Should we use it?” question – an unqualified yes. He says Spam gelatin is almost 100 percent protein, extremely nutritious – maybe even the best thing in the can.
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### Author:  [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-that-jelly-in-spam/107581/7 "2002-05-07T02:35:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Retired Hormel production manager Helmer Peterson has an answer to the “Should we use it?” question – an unqualified yes. He says Spam gelatin is almost 100 percent protein, extremely nutritious – maybe even the best thing in the can.
You instinctivly knew it was true as a child when you ate your boogers. There just ain’t nothin’ better for you than snot.