As any gourmet gelatin chef knows, you cannot make Jell-O (or any other brand of gelatin) with pineapple. Well, technically, you cannot make it with fresh pineapple. Canned pineapple works fine, With fresh pineapple, however, the product simply will remain a liquid and will not gel.
Why not? Well, gelatin is actually a protein made from boiling animal bones, connective tissue, and skin (yummy). Fresh pineapple contains sulfhydryl protease enzymes, which essentially break down the gelatin proteins into amino acids and prevents them from forming the molecular building blocks which give gelatin its form. Cooking the pineapple (which is part of the canning process) destroys the protease enzymes and renders the pineapple gelatin-friendly.
Actually, pineapple is not the only enemy of Jell-O. Other substances which contain proteases include broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, wheat, soy beans, papaya, mango, guava, pawpaw, kiwi, figs, meat tenderizer, and ginger root. This may well explain why your last mushroom and fig gelatin creation was a flop.
For even more intimate details about the great pineapple/Jello-O controversy, check out the Today I Found Out website.
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