The answer of course, is Jell-o. And I’m not just saying that because Daddy J went to college with the Jell-o heir (even though he did…). Jell-o is right up there in the American Cure-All pantheon with chicken soup and ginger ale, and with good reason: it tastes like something, manages to convey vital water and sugar, and is very, very low impact. And, for yours truly, low impact is where it’s at right now. After what already feels like an eternity or so of broth, the odd bowl of rice, and bananas (I HATE bananas), I was touched by an angel today at the office, and she whispered: “Jell-o”. Now I don’t much like it usually, but any port in a storm.

There is, of course, the slightly problematic day-glow colors and flavors of the prepackaged stuff. But really, when I’m feeling like death on a bun, I’m not about to screw about TOO much with plain gelatin and source pure flavors. Nor am I going to go all retro and throw in a bunch of canned fruit, because I can’t, which is FINE, because I hate canned fruit too. Hmph. No, I’m going to take that box and fiddle just a tiny bit. Thinking about what to do with your basic fruity flavors, I turned to the Bat-Pantry. Here are some combos that I thought would be good. I’ve not tried all of them yet, but I expect that I’ll be working my way through them in the near future.

No changes to the recipe, just do the ancient dance of powder-hot liquid-cold liquid-chill and you’re all set.

Lemon-Ginger
Powder: Lemon
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Hot: triple-strength ginger tea
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Cold: Strong ginger beer (Goya Jamaican-style is the house pick)

Orange-Bergamot
Powder: Orange
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Hot: double strength Earl Grey
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Cold: water

“Gin” & Tonic
Powder: Lime
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Hot: Water infused with 1tsp juniper berries (what? I have juniper berries; don’t you?)
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Cold: tonic water

Cran-Raspberry
Powder: Raspberry
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Hot: water
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Cold: cranberry juice

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