Trio Treat

Of all the things in the world to write a blog post about, I don't know why I felt like picking on this defenseless dessert. I guess the unfulfilled promise of a "treat" rubbed me the wrong way. Dr. Oetker's "Trio Treat Layered Gelatin Mix" is not much of a treat.

It's a gelatin mix that you whip in a blender with room-temperature water. You pour half of it into dessert glasses, then you pour the second half. (The slight pause between pourings causes the difference between the layers of "foam" to be more pronounced.) Refrigerate, and the gelatin and foam layers solidify.

One thing I will say in its favor - it's convenient not to have to boil water and stir to dissolve the stuff. On the other hand, I can't imagine being so desperate for gelatin that I couldn't wait for the water to boil. Either way, you still have to refrigerate it.

And if you're going to have to wait a couple of hours anyway, you want the outcome to be worth the wait. I didn't feel that it was.

First, this is definitely more about looks and texture than flavor. The taste of this stuff isn't remotely comparable to Jell-o's. It's vaguely fruity, but when the color of something says "fruit! FRUIT! FRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUIT!!!!!" then you need something that's better than vague.

Second, if you like the texture of solidified foam, you might still find something to enjoy here, but if not, then not. Imagine cheap ice cream that has half-melted and then been refrozen. It was sort of like that.

Third, if you want neat-looking gelatin, you have much more appealing options - like making regular gelatin with fruit in it, or some alternative liquid like red wine, or creative layering with two flavors (tilt the glass while the first layer hardens - woooooo!!!), or... I don't know... something clever with Cool Hoowhip... or just get better-looking dessert glasses.