LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JUNE 20, 2021 by Lynne Belluscio I stopped down on Mill Street last week to pick up some food at Mama Chavez’s Taqueria. I asked Maria if she had ever made Mexican Jell-O. “Oh my, yes!! It’s been a while, but it was very popular in the town where I lived. I’ll have to make some this weekend.” I knew that in Mexico, Jell-O is frequently made with milk and not water, but that was about all I knew. A couple of days later I received an email from her son Jose. “Mom made some Jell-O over the weekend and she saved some for you. Stop by." I couldn’t wait until I got there. She had a tray of cups of various kinds that she made and the one that caught my eye was the two- layered strawberry Jell-O. There was a clear red layer on the bottom and a creamy pink layer on the top. It was delicious! The top layer was made with condensed milk. The sweetness comes from the condensed milk, because it has a lot of sugar. There is no sugar in evaporated milk. I looked at a couple of recipes on line and some use condensed milk and some use evaporated milk. Maria also made a vanilla gelatin, not a pudding, but a gelatin. It reminded me of the chocolate Jell-O I had made a long time ago. Jell-O manufactured a chocolate gelatin - - not a pudding and it was considered one of the “fruit flavors.” (Ruth Harvie always joked that if chocolate Jell-O was a fruit flavor, then she was going to count her Hershey bar as one of her daily servings of fruit.) The vanilla Jell-O was actually not made with Jell-O Brand gelatin, but a brand made in Mexico. I asked Maria where she got her gelatin and she told me about the Mexican market Monte Alban II in Batavia next to the China Buffet in the Home Value Center plaza. So, I drove to Batavia and bought some D’Gari. There were several flavors; naranja - orange; pina - pineapple; fresa - strawberry; and jerez which is sherry. Each packet makes four cups of gelatin, (not the usual 2 cups from a 3 ounce box of Jell-O brand gelatin.) Most of the Mexican recipes that I found make a creamy gelatin. The photographs show layered pastel colors in a mold or a glass. The other popular way of serving Jell-O is known as Gelatina de Mosaico. It is made by cutting Jell-O into cubes and then mixing it into cooled vanilla gelatin. It is often put into large molds and they are displayed as centerpieces on the table. They are even sold in stores like birthday cakes or holiday cakes. A similar Jell-O recipe, known as “broken glass” was made with Dream Whip instead of condensed milk. It was popular in the 1950s and was featured in Jell-O ads. Another popular Gelatina recipe is made on Cinco de Mayo Day, May 5. The layered Jell-O is made with a green layer on the bottom, a white layer in the middle and a red layer on top, symbolic of the Mexican flag. Street vendors in Mexico sell refreshing cool Jell-O. Maria Chevez said that there were a couple of vendors in her town that were known for their delicious Jell-O. It is served on a little piece of paper. Sometimes, the Jell-O is put into a plastic bag and served with egg nog. Bakeries and high-end restaurants in Mexico serve fantastic, shimmering Gelatina in a variety of ways. I was amazed at the images I found on the internet of these Jell-O creations. Maria is planning to have some of these Gelatina desserts available at her restaurant very soon. Maria was born in the small town of San Nicolas de los Agustinos in Guanajuato, Mexico. She was one of twelve children and she was always in the kitchen helping her mother prepare meals so cooking was something she knew about. When Maria retired, she decided to fulfill her lifelong dream of owning her own taqueria, so in 2019, with the help and encouragement of her husband Jose, and their three children, Jose Jr, Armando and Emily, Maria opened her restaurant on Mill Street. Mama Chevez’s Taqueria has become a welcome addition to the food establishments in LeRoy, and I for one, am looking forward to her new dessert addition to the menu. Gelatina - A Jell-O Story