Gelatin (gelatine) is what most people would consider jelly, so assuming you were once a child and/or ever went to a birthday party then you're already familiar with some of the properties of gelatin! It is a common ingredient that now finds new uses as in molecular gastronomy supplies. One of the great things about gelatin is how it feels when you roll it around your tongue, this is because it melts at body temperature – gelatine is literally melt-in-the-mouth tasty! This is referred to by molecular gastronomy practitioners as mouth feel it is something every child knows even if they don't know that they know it. Where does gelatin come from? Gelatin is extracted from meat (pork, beef, chicken, horse) or fish. Unless the label states otherwise it is safe to assume that pork is the source of any gelatine you purchase. Anything labelled as “vegetarian” would not be gelatine but another vegetable based hydrocolloid. The industrial extraction process involves acid/alkali plus many purification stages which are essentially to remove any potential flavour from the gelatine and also any potential gelling inhibitors (salts). You can simply make your own gelatine by taking a part of the animal that contains lots of collagen, which is found in its highest concentration in tendons. The obvious choice would be pig's trotters because they are cheap and contain a lot of tendons. Simply boiling the trotters will hydrolyse the collagen to create gelatine. (hydrolysing basically means breaking the linkages within and between the tough, insoluble collagen molecule to release the water soluble gelatin. The use of the acid/alkali in the industrial process is to make the process more efficient. The gelatin you make yourself will have an undeniably “meaty” taste and aroma making it completely useless for creating gummy bears!