Jelly, as in fruit jelly or gelled dessert, does not have a single clear “inventor,” but modern commercial jelly and Jell‑O–style gelatin desserts do trace back to a few key people in the 1800s and 1900s.

Short direct answer

  • Fruit jelly (preserved fruit strained to a clear gel with sugar) evolved gradually over centuries from traditional preserving methods, so there is no single person who “invented” it.
  • The first patented powdered edible gelatin (the base for many modern jellies and Jell‑O–type desserts) was created by industrialist Peter Cooper , who received a U.S. patent for “portable gelatin” in 1845.
  • The famous branded gelatin dessert Jell‑O was later developed and trademarked in 1897 by Pearle Bixby Wait and his wife May, who flavored sugar and granulated gelatin and sold the product under the name “Jell‑O.”

So if you mean:

  • “Who invented the idea of jelly preserves?” → No single inventor; they emerged from early European and later industrial food preservation traditions.
  • “Who invented the powdered gelatin base that made jelly desserts easy?” → Peter Cooper, with his 1845 portable gelatin patent.
  • “Who invented Jell‑O , the iconic wobbly dessert brand?” → Pearle Bixby Wait and May Wait in Le Roy, New York, in 1897.

In everyday conversation, most people who ask “who invented jelly” are really thinking of the wobbly Jell‑O dessert, in which case Pearle Bixby Wait is the most relevant name.

TL;DR: No one person invented fruit jelly, but Peter Cooper made the first patented powdered edible gelatin in 1845, and Pearle Bixby Wait and his wife May created and named Jell‑O in 1897.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.