12 Layer Christmas Jello Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is ambrosia salad made of? ›

Ambrosia Fruit Salad

The best Ambrosia Salad recipe is made with pineapple, mandarin oranges, yogurt, mini marshmallows, coconut and whipped cream. This easy side dish has a delicious tropical sweetness and is always a crowd favorite!

Jello salads were especially fashionable in the suburbs in the 1950s. They were seen as a marker of sophistication, elegance and status, indicating that a housewife had time to prepare jello molds and that her family could afford a refrigerator.

“Jell-O salads first became popular in the 1930s but reached their highest expression as part of the processed food school of cooking that sprang up after the war,” said Wyman. This was an era of packaged foods and TV dinners, and it was the golden age of gelatin desserts.

Its juicy, cream-colored flesh is sweet with low acid and offers a soft crunch much like Golden Delicious. It is a good juicing or fresh-eating apple; its flavor is somewhat pear-like. Its flesh does turn brown as quickly as other apples so it works great for salads.

Ambrosia is an attractive medium-sized apple, with a pink-tinged orange/red flush over a yellow background. As such it is very much in tune with the modern preference for "bi-coloured" apples.

Jell-O shifted to single-serve cups and more convenient options as competition for snacks and desserts grew. Kraft in the early 2000's shifted the focus of Jell-O's advertising away from kids and toward adults. It pitched sugar-free Jell-O, for example, as a treat for Atkins dieters.

Why do hospitals serve so much Jell-O? There are a few reasons: Jell-O is easy to swallow and digest, making it suitable for patients who have difficulty eating solid foods or have digestive issues.

Utah eats more Jell-O than any other state

The people in Utah love their Jell-O! The state has an entire holiday week dedicated to the jiggly treat, and it's even Utah's official state food.

After World War II, when food shortages and rationing ended, gelatin became a creative kitchen tool, as well as a shortcut. Congealed molded dishes quickly earned a place at the table as impressive salads. According to Clark, mid-century meals had more courses than we serve at home today.

Plain Jell-O and sweet Jell-O salads are still widely consumed in the US, especially in the rural Midwest and the Deep South. Savory Jell-O salads do, however, remain popular in Utah and other heavily Mormon areas.

Why did Jello salad fail as a product? ›

They attempted to make a new savory line of gelatin which included celery, tomato, Italian seasoning and mixed vegetables. Many people responded in disgust to this new flavor in disgust and rejected it. They stopped marketing them very soon after.

The once hard-to-find ingredients were considered luxurious and exotic. The salad was a treat reserved for holidays and other special occasions, and named “ambrosia” after the food of the Greek and Roman gods.

Ambrosia is an American variety of fruit salad originating in the Southern United States. Most ambrosia recipes contain canned (often sweetened) or fresh pineapple, canned mandarin orange slices or fresh orange sections, miniature marshmallows, and coconut.

Ambrosia Salad Tastes Like Coconut, Watergate Salad Tastes Like Pistachio. One of the first things that sets ambrosia and Watergate salads apart is the flavor profile of each dish. Watergate salad uses a pistachio instant pudding packet and often calls for additional garnishings of pistachio on top.

Fill an 8-oz. glass with ice. Stir in rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine.