A Brief Foray into the History of Jello Salad
Author & Photographer: Alex Wang
“It’s my lime Jello-O marshmallow cottage cheese surprise
With slices of pimento. You won’t believe your eyes!
All topped with a pineapple ring and a dash of mayonnaise
My vanilla wafers round the edge will win your highest praise.”
-"Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise", William Bolcom and Joan Morris, 1980
The fifties are not often considered the zenith of the American culinary tradition. This is an unsupported claim, but it seems cotton to popular sentiment. Most people would probably choose the eighties or the perhaps the turn of the twentieth century, if asked. However, I would argue that the foods of the fifties embodied the zeitgeist of their era in a more outright way than at any other point in history. Indeed, to the people who were inventing them, engineering them, and eating them, the foods of the fifties were the foods of the future. And of all the foods of the fifties, surely the paragon of them was Jello Salad.
Gelatins and aspics had been eaten as traditional foods in both Europe and America since the fifteenth century, but they were difficult to make and were mostly considered luxuries that could only be enjoyed by the wealthy. It was not until the twentieth century that they took on a far more egalitarian and indeed American identity.
During the Second World War, the US military funneled millions of dollars into research on food technology. Specifically, they needed meals for soldiers on the frontline that were inexpensive to produce, portable, easily prepared, and would last indefinitely. After the war, the advances made in refrigeration, powderization technology, machine packaging, and food preservation would all prove essential to transforming Jello from a food of the rich to the food of all.
Strangely enough, mass-made Jello was actually invented much earlier (in 1881, making it 32 years older than the US Federal Reserve), but it was in the baby boomer cohort that it found its heyday. In the midst of the macabre of the World Wars, many became disillusioned with what was traditional and ‘the way things used to be’, so to speak. What emerged in response was a slingshot effect that shifted the cultural center of gravity––from one with its feet rooted firmly in the past to one that was bounding towards the future at a breakneck pace. The modernist movement had profound impact on American society, and the fifties saw the masses embracing the excitement and freedom of new ways of living, made possible through new technologies in a period of tremendous economic possibilities. Yet simultaneously, Americans felt the need to champion their national brand of domestic capitalism as an Aegis against the radically liberal yet ascetic new Soviet culture. The emergence of Home Economics classes as a standard part of the American high school and collegiate curriculum encouraged young mothers to rely less on the heritage recipes of their parents and grandparents and instead embrace spiffy new convenient foodstuffs.
Enter Jello Salad.
With its bright new colors and seemingly endless stream of potential uses, Jello seemed like the food of astronauts, of time travelers, of a utopian future (indeed, a popular recipe from this period was called “Salad Utopia,” featuring whipped cream, canned fruit, and cheddar cheese). It didn’t matter if it came from a box, since everything else that was new and cool seemed to come in a can. Artificial was good. Especially in the Midwest, sheltered from the stream of immigrants from South America, Asia, and Africa who brought “ethnic” cuisine to the coasts, Jello represented a novel yet wholly American invention, one that was beloved at potlucks and church suppers.
There were many learning opportunities I encountered while making Jello Salad. Firstly, fruits and vegetables already contain a fair amount of residual water, so it is advisable to slightly reduce the amount of water utilized in preparing the Jello (perhaps a tablespoon less per packet). Secondly, it is important to make sure to peel off the rinds of the orange slices. Thirdly, DO NOT ADD PINEAPPLE TO YOUR JELLO. I did not know this the first time I made this salad, and I ended up with so much lime-flavored soup. People who claim to have anecdotal evidence of making Jello with pineapple are surely lying or have an incorrect memory, as the enzymes in pineapple inexorably prevent gelatin from setting properly. Fourthly, it is extremely important that you cover your jello salad while it is chilling, especially if you are placing it in a communal refrigerator alongside various stinky leftovers. Gelatin is extremely susceptible to absorbing odors from the air, and a rank, warmed-over flavor is not welcome alongside the vegetal and fruity notes of this dish.
Ingredients:
6 cups fruits and vegetables*
2 packets of Jello (preferably lime)
Cottage Cheese
Large lettuce leaves and marshmallows to garnish
Instructions:
Prepare jello according to packet instructions (albeit omitting a tablespoon of cold water per packet). Allow to cool briefly in a bowl.
Add fruit and vegetable medley to a fluted bundt pan or specialized gelatin mold, then add the Jello.
Cover and refrigerate for four hours or until set.
Remove the Jello from the refrigerator, then briefly place the mold in a larger bowl of lukewarm water for about thirty to forty seconds to separate the salad from its mold.
Turn the Jello over onto a plate in the same vein as if one was making a tortilla de papas, and garnish with the lettuce and marshmallows. If you have been a clever boy or girl and used a bundt pan with a tubed center, I suggest this as the perfect place to top your salad with a generous dollop of cottage cheese.
*Suggestions: cherry tomatoes, apricots, oranges, shredded carrots, cucumber slices, strawberries, grapes, apple slices (no pineapple)