Even people who can get past their fears about what’s in Spam often have a problem with the clear, gelatinous material that comes with it and gives it a distinctive “glug, glug” sound when you shake the can.

What is that stuff? In a word, gelatin. Like Jell-O, Spam gel is basically the glutinous material that comes from cooking animal tissue. Unlike Jell-O, Spam’s gelatin is an unbidden and, for the most part, unwanted by-product of cooking Spam in the can – and not, as many assume, an ingredient added to help it slide out.

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Retired Hormel production manager Helmer Peterson has an answer to the “Should we use it?” question – an unqualified yes. He says Spam gelatin is almost 100 percent protein, extremely nutritious – maybe even the best thing in the can.