Penny S, your saying that the 'jelly' cube was slow to melt is interesting. In the States, 'jello' comes in a loose, granulated form. I have no idea of what there 'sell by' date would be.

Funnily enough, I have a jello story. I really don't eat it myself but our Friday night music host loves the stuff, plus he is an autoharp player and says it is good for his fingernails. However, he is legally blind and as he says, it's not a good idea to turn him loose with boiling water. His wife has no patience with jello or jello eating. So every Friday night of the last few years I take along a bowl of jello for him; lots of different flavors- he likes them all. Five minutes of my time- and everybody is happy.