The Collagen Collection

Gelatin and Collagen: What's the connection?

The genesis of gelatin actually begins with a protein called collagen. Collagen is the most important protein in connective tissue, skin, and bones; you actually have more collagen - up to 70 %) in your body than any other type of protein. Degradation or lack of collagen can cause problems from wrinkles to osteoporosis.

In food, collagen is found mostly in the discarded and tougher cuts of beef that contain a lot of connective tissue.

Gelatin is the cooked form of collagen – it’s the way we can eat the beneficial amino acids in the collagen without dining on a plate of raw tendons for dinner.

Cooking collagen-rich foods extracts gelatin, but more intensive processing can also create a slightly different, but highly useful product called Collagen hydrolysate.

You break down both gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen into the same amino acids in your digestive system anyway, so in terms of health benefits, hydrolyzed collagen and gelatin should be roughly equivalent

However, they do have culinary differences in terms of how you’ll use them.