The physical properties and sensory characteristics during chewing of jelly foods prepared using three kind of commercial gelling agents, here designated “A”, “B”, and “C”, were examined. Commercial gelling agents were dissolved in milk, miso soup, rice porridge, orange juice, and green tea and then cooled, according to the instructions of each supplier. Physical properties and sensory characteristics for each jelly food varied widely based on the gelling agent used, although the trends in the physical properties of each sample tended to be similar to the trends of the sensory characteristics for each gelling agent. The differences between sensory evaluation values for a given gelling agent reported by young people were larger than those reported by elderly people.Evaluations of texture and sensory characteristics revealed that commercial gelling agents “A” and “B” resulted in harder foods than did “C” in milk, miso soup, orange juice, and green tea. Rice porridge made with “C” was softer, less sticky, and easier to swallow. These results suggested that the components in gelling agents “A” and “B” are similar to each other and different from those in “C”, which possibly contains a starch-digesting enzyme. This study demonstrated the importance of using specific commercial gelling agents for the food in question to obtaining suitable physical properties and sensory characteristics.