Oh that sounds very American and retro! I don't think I can help.....what would you eat it with? https://www.seriouseats.com/history-of-jell-o-salad

What is this "goo"? If you haven't sniffed or tasted yet I'd be wary about eating them.

Floral, I'm pretty sure they're fine. I just haven't checked them yet. it's highly unlikely they're spoiled and it's stored in glass. Just possible the flavor isn't nice anymore.. The goo isn't new. It's the pickling liquid plus the beet juice it drew out of the beets as I was making it. At least cold, it's much thicker than vinegar, hence ”goo”. And me being flippant on word choice.

I dunno, IC. Jellies go back centuries in England, and I think France, too. I'm specifically thinking Independence day. Jell-o just brought it to the people. Though Jell-o salads were pushed by the company to sell more Jell-o, Some of them are very goid. We're doing a weenie roast (that's Americana!) but with nitrate free and poultry dogs, and pretzel buns. Broccoli slaw. Beet gel if it works. Corn on the cob (more Americana). Ketchup, mustard, pickle relish commercial. Plus my onion jam. I have an apple pie I made in the freezer, and one of the company is bringing ice cream, so à la mode (which term is fossilized here to mean with ice cream). Maybe watermelon punch if I get around to it. This is not in order of progression, and sounds a bit higgly piggly, but I think it'll work. I just need to figure out the beets or a replacement. Classic would be cole slaw and potato salad, but we have buns for starch, and broccoli slaw is more delicious than cabbage.

How long has that been?. The beets and the onion jam. If a fresh food pickle or veg jam, i give it like any cooked food in the fridge...3-5 days. 5 max. It isn't a proper ferment or properly canned. The exception is the mustard seed. Mustard seed is naturally anti-bacterial if heated first. Without produce like shallots/garlic/fresh hot peppers. Fresh items shorten the fridge life by alot. Dried tosted spice is fine like chili flake, dried spices. Dried onion/garlic flake.

(my neighbor returns my chili crisp jars within a few days and gets a refill with the next batch....this weekend) She appreciates the date made)

Vinegar/salt might buy a few days but i tend to be cautious.

Even chili crisp i avoid any fresh roasted garlic/shallots. Always dried flake. Label the made date and the use by date...one month.

No mater what an on-line recipe says, i don't follow their 'lasts for months in the fridge'.

No different than those that follow proper canning practices. Even though many poopoo us cautious ones.

Not sure i would experiment on a family affair .

That said, a dozen years ago, fresh fruit jello was a thing. One holiday season i made layered jello using all fresh fruit juice. Gorgeous. For both families and friends. Only one close friend liked it and one sister and my mother. No others would even try it. I loved it but so much effort for a few takers. (i did 3-4 layers)

This one from Food52, 2015, is lovely. beet/herb jello

Okay, I take your point. It's been more than a week. Things keep much better in my fridge than most. It's a very fancy fridge. But for company, I do usually only serve newly fresh, though it's just us for the 4th. I thought the beets had some protection, but better to err on the side of caution.

I get it about selling it. The entire greater family, in their multitudes, loved my mother's ”green mold”. Loved. She had a ginormous mold and a special cut glass platter it fit on, for feeding the dozens (buffet). It held together with actual Jell-o, but was opaque, and tangy, not Jell-o-y. I made the mistake of serving it at a ladies' lunch. The friends politely took some and pushed it around. I don't think they actually tasted it.

Okay. There's nothing wrong with the beets. Very vinegary. But I'd conveniently forgotting the flavoring buds and pods. I'm not picking them out, so no gel, even for just me. I'lleat the last couple and toss the goo. :( But the idea of beet gel tickles my fancy, so it'll happen sometime. S, thanks for the link. Good starting place.

Jelly is a funny thing. In Britain, we only eat sweet, fruity jelly as dessert - and that's pretty well limited to children.

The French think it's the food of the devil. They do, however, eat things in aspic. Usually something small and delicate designed as a little work of art. https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=6e16df18d91a5be0&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1GEWG_enFR1108FR1108&sxsrf=ADLYWIKl1l5mXMJNnehpOVympmTagrEftA:1719642617275&q=en+g%C3%A9l%C3%A9e&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0CbCVgAZ5mWEJDg6aoPVcBgBfTqaTQuNecG83gDqWXJqAH7ZO4mvxbrAueJPpi2x1bRw-OXOx59gSHHzR0L72mKDrVA5foYIq8YD-tGhsynoAKU-FeHVilJzJikeRkfhrJxu3lDXRmSzJ1ObzHjGmnyq8WVc14T_Zz_O21etm70t1sDjx5sn9dKqozeRtxTHY10PxoU&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiaoN_6l4CHAxUATKQEHWw6DskQtKgLegQIHhAB&biw=1156&bih=613&dpr=1.33

One thing I really enjoy is jambon persillé. You cook a couple of ham hocks and set the meat in the jelly with lots of parsley. I slow cook the meat in cider https://www.cuisineaz.com/recettes/jambon-persille-108320.aspx

LOL!! There are some gorgeous jewels in that first link, but a lot of them look just like American ones. Most Americans also eat fruity jello, with a subset of ”jigglers” which have half the water so the kids can pick them up with their fingers (none of the falling off the spoon and staining the favorite dress or grandma's carpet) and shots, which are spill proof ways of serving lots of booze to college age partiers, also more spillproof but will still be ground into the carpet, and a hedge around open container laws stashed in Tupperware.

The ham looks way too much like an aspic my great-great-aunt made which scared the children! Though I'm sure yours tastes good. Oh! Just remembered the name: ptcha. It sounds like the noise the children made when they saw it, or so I'm told.

So, the traditions I was thinking of go back hundreds of years. Neat's foot jelly, fish jelly, etc. Blancmange. Pannacotta. Etc.

https://modernmedievalcuisine.com/2021/08/04/jelly-in-13th-and-14th-century-england/

https://www.kristinholt.com/archives/24150

I've made ham hock terrine for buffet meals. It's pretty much the same as jambon persillé and is absolutely delicious. Close cousin to brawn. But these are set with the natural gelatine from the meat, not commercial packet jelly.

I like aspics. Unfortunately not many do. DH would enjoy if included in a restaurant tasting menu.

Soup dumplings are formed around a firm gelatin broth.

An ingredient in my mothers fruit jello kept it from setting properly. Wonder what that was. I then thought vinegar in your beets might cause issues. Nope, lol.

This is made with the pickle juice. Oh dear.

This went viral a few weeks ago. She said she got the idea from England. The comments are hilarious. Mostly from England, lol. No one has ever seen such a thing. And "condolences to your family". (i can't find the link)

LOL! In a lot of these, if made with Jell-o, the proportions are all wrong because of the sugar. If it's a salad, it has to be one that goes with a sweet dressing. That's why so many are obnoxious. Plain gelatin saves one from both the sugar and color of Jell-o, but if those aren't replaced, it looks horrible and could scare children. Really well made, if it's not the dessert kind where the Jell-o, sweet and wiggly, is an honored guest at the party, there should be no lumps of visible goo with floaters. Ugh! But thanks for the proof that pickling liquid will set.

With the beets I was thinking sweet/savory, the way plain beets are, and with no dessert flavors thrown in, but gelled beet pickle juice as a translucence that would be welcome (no weenies in the gel!). But I have foresworn experimenting on unsuspecting family at a celebration with yesterday's pickles. Though, in a more lucid moment, I did realize that I could use a strainer to remove the pickling spices. The goo isn't that thick!

Re things that keep gelatin from setting, pineapple is notorious. It's those pesky enzymes. Cooking neutralizes them, and so canned can work, but I have a vague memory that even so, it's moderate amounts. Other, mostly tropical fruit too, like mango and kiwi, which is a shame because kiwi's so pretty. Oh, and ginger. I had an auntie who always brought Jell-o salads to family dinners, but they were mostly good, and there was one fruit one which was fantastic, but she never shared the recipe. She did something that still gelled, but was utterly transformative to the flavor and appearance of the Jell-o, and delicious.

So, in interest of clearing the fridge, I strained the juice, separated the veg from the spices, pods and buds, sliced the beets, and did the boil and gel thing. Most fortunately an envelope of Knox was labelled four for four cups, so was just right for one cup. It's just in a pie plate with a cover, setting in the fridge. We'll see if it works. Other than creating an awful lot of washing up, which mostly goes in the DW, it seems to have gone well. It didn't even discolor the cutting board. But I promise not to serve it, even though I think it's just fine.

So, using the ”Knox Blox” propotions (low water, like jigglers) there was no issue with it setting, even with all that vinegar. It's really a tasty and fun way to eat tne pickled beets. The beets weren’t very sweet, but the gel tastes a bit sweet and nice. The onion flavors come through well, and there's some kind of heat in there. I like this better thaan the straight beet pickles!