Rose Knox: How One Woman Mixed Kitchen and Boardroom to Remold an American Business by Rachel Greenfield

Rose Knox is the fascinating story of the woman who ran the famous Knox Gelatine brand for
decades. In 1914 after six years of secretly running the company, Rose Knox revealed that she’d
assumed her deceased husband’s position as the company’s president. With creativity and
persistence, she then skillfully drew upon traditional ideals of domesticity and womanhood to
turn Knox Gelatine into an iconic American brand and herself into a business celebrity.
While gelatine may seem retro today, its low-cost flexibility made it a kitchen staple until the
1970s. With cookbooks, an elegantly curated persona, and a strong conviction that running a
household could prepare women to lead businesses as well as men, Knox became nationally
famous, grew revenues eight-fold and built a million-dollar company. Millions of women found
her example inspiring, loved her recipes, and admired her balancing of home and business. By
her presentation, she disrupted conventional views of women in business even though she didn’t
outwardly support suffrage, and never argued against the household and domestic expectations
placed on women.
Rachel Greenfield intersperses gelatine recipes from the Knox brand throughout Knox’s story—
including Fruit Salad Sweet, Tomato Jelly Molded with Eggs, Chocolate Blanc Mange, and
Strawberry Bavarian Cream—reminding us how integral gelatine was to kitchens and homes
throughout the US. An impressive and captivating story of entrepreneurial excellence and
resilience despite personal tragedy, Rose Knox is a must-read contribution to the history of
women in business and a triumph of a woman’s food and business savvy.