). The fruit and gelatin combine to form a delicious surprise that goes with almost anything. In the South, we usually eat congealed salads as a side dish, but they are equally good as a light dessert. Fruit is one of my all-time favorite desserts. It just can’t be beat in its simplicity and perfection. While I love just about any fruit on its own, I find that with a little blending and sometimes a light dressing to enhance the flavor, it comes to life on a whole new level.
No gathering would be complete without a congealed salad (also known as a Jell-O salad, for those of you who don’t live in the South ). The fruit and gelatin combine to form a delicious surprise that goes with almost anything. In the South, we usually eat congealed salads as a side dish, but they are equally good as a light dessert.
Buttermilk adds a richness and subtle tang to this old-fashioned salad. You can easily switch up the flavors based on your preference and add some fresh chopped seasonal fruit to further complement it if you like! This is a must at church socials and family reunions. Serves 4 to 6
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
2 boxes (3 ounces each) peach gelatin (or your favorite flavor)
2 cups buttermilk (store-bought is best here)
1 container (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed, or 1 cup whipped cream (see recipe)
1 Place the crushed pineapple and its juice in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the gelatin and stir until well mixed. Remove from the heat.
2 Stir in the buttermilk and allow to cool, 20 to 30 minutes. Stir in the whipped topping until fully incorporated.
3 Transfer the mixture to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill before serving, 3 hours.
Peach Buttermilk Congealed Salad will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days.
My sister-in-law, Tina, introduced me to this salad while we were visiting a few years ago and it instantly became a dear favorite. If you have any Dr Pepper fans in your house, make their day at the next barbecue by bringing out this little gem. It works really well with Coca-Cola, too! Serves 6 to 8
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
2 boxes (3 ounces each) cherry gelatin
¾ cup Dr Pepper (regular or diet)
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling
1 Drain the pineapple juice from the can into a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add ½ cup water and bring to a boil.
2 Once boiling, remove from the heat and add the gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Add the Dr Pepper, cherry pie filling, and crushed pineapple and stir until fully incorporated.
3 Pour into a 6-cup heatproof mold or serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled and set, about 4 hours. Serve cold.
Aunt Tina’s Dr Pepper Salad will keep, in a covered container in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.
Did you have a bicycle as a kid? I had a pink one with a banana-style seat and the words “powder puff” written on it. It was beautiful, my pride and joy. I put a piece of masking tape down the center of the seat as soon as I got it. I’d get on it and line up the zipper of my brother’s hand-me-down jeans with that strip of tape to help me find my balance as I was teaching myself to ride. Once I learned, man I was off! I imagine some folks who didn’t know any better might have thought I was just riding a bicycle as I wore ruts into the roads in my neighborhood, but if you were ever in the seat of your own bicycle as a child, you know the truth: I was flying! Every morning I’d get up with the sun, get dressed as quickly as I could, and then head out for a day of pedaling as fast as I could while the wind flew through my hair and I soared through the skies of Huntsville.
Oh, how I remember the joy of that first day when it was warm enough to ride your bike after the winter! I’d ride all day long only to wake up the next day with legs so sore I could hardly walk, but by golly I’d still get on that bike within a day or two and be back to flying again.
You know, so much of life is like that. It starts out fun, then we realize it’s hard, but we stick with it and pedal some more and eventually we’re rewarded with some good flight time. If we just stick with it. And keep pedaling.
If it feels hard today, if you’re a little sore from trying—don’t give up. Keep pedaling. You’ll fly soon.
from Stacey Sligh
“This is my granny’s Jell-O salad that she makes for church parties and get-togethers, and the bowl is always empty when she leaves. Once, a sweet lady at church even typed up copies for everyone to have because they liked it so much.
“Granny always made sure to take care of me growing up. I would stop by her house for dinner on my way to school, where I was taking night classes. She also taught me how to cook! We have a show pig farm and my granny often tells me the story of when her daddy brought pigs home one day and the pigs had to live upstairs in their house for a couple nights until her daddy built a shelter for them. So she loves hearing our stories when our baby pigs are born! My granny will be ninety this year, and she is the strongest woman I know.” Serves 6 to 8
1 box (6 ounces) sugar-free raspberry gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 can (14 ounces) cranberry sauce with berries
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, with juice
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 container (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed
1 Mix together the raspberry gelatin and boiling water in a large mixing bowl until the gelatin is dissolved. While the mixture is still hot, stir in the cranberry sauce and pineapple. Add the nuts.
2 Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for several hours. Just before serving, spread the whipped topping over the top.
Raspberry Salad will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days.
Christy’s Note: I am always on the lookout for congealed salads that can be served with meals as a side dish, like my granny’s was in the old days. While this recipe calls for whipped topping for garnish, I think it is great served alongside meat and vegetables without the topping. Either way, it is delicious. I love cranberries and nuts and this has them both. After I tested the recipe, I ended up eating most of it myself over a couple of days!
Aside from fresh garden vegetables and sweet tea, nothing says summer gathering to a Southerner like congealed salad. However, outside of the southern United States, most folks refer to them as gelatin or Jell-O salads. We just like to be different.
My great-grandmother, who lived the majority of her life as a sharecropper, considered congealed salads to be the ultimate treat. Back in her day, though, it was a treat that could be enjoyed only in the winter due to the fact that they didn’t have a refrigerator. The heat of Alabama summers would never allow the gelatin to set up!
My grandmother says that in the wintertime my great-grandmother Lela had an old washtub she kept out in the back of her house. She’d let it fill up with water and as soon as it got cold enough to freeze, off she’d go to mix up a congealed salad in her kitchen and then place it out on top of that ice to set in time for dinner.
By the time I came along, Lela was living a well-deserved, comfortable life in my grandmama and granddaddy’s house. She was in her eighties by then and didn’t get out much, but once a week she’d put on her good dress and black leather shoes and hook her large black leather purse on her arm for her weekly trip to Kroger with Grandmama. One of the first things she put in her cart every week was a container of gelatin from the deli. She always smiled like a kid taking hold of a lollipop at having such a luxury as store-bought gelatin, available year-round. Even now, something so small still makes my heart smile whenever I see it and think of what joy it gave her. There are so many small pleasures in our life today that it’s easy to take them for granted; memories of Lela remind me to open my eyes to them whenever possible.
It’s not often that you see heavy cream in a recipe that doesn’t call for you to whip it. Here, you cook that delicious cream along with some sugar and flour as a thickener. The resulting sauce has a rich buttery flavor unlike any other. Tart apples are a perfect complement. If I’m taking this salad somewhere, I like to make the sauce a day ahead of time and store it, covered, in my refrigerator. The morning of the event, I peel and chop my apples, finish the recipe, and return it to the fridge until it’s time to leave. Serves 8 to 10
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1 can (16 ounces) crushed pineapple, with juice
½ cup maraschino cherries, chopped
5 large tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
¼ cup (½ stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 cup chopped nuts
1 Stir together the flour and sugar in a medium-size heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the heavy cream and pineapple. Place over medium heat and stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and mixture begins to thicken, 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2 Pour the cream mixture into a medium-size heatproof bowl and refrigerate until chilled and thickened, about 1 hour.
3 Stir in the cherries, apples, butter, and nuts. Return to the refrigerator and chill until ready to serve.
Apple Salad will keep, in a covered container in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.
from Cindy Burton
“My mother-in-law was hands down the sweetest of sweet little old ladies. When I first met her in 1987, she came waddling through the hallway with the prettiest dimpled grin on her face. I knew right then that we would be good friends.
“Her name was Ruby Helen Reece Burton and she was the mother of seven children with my husband being her ‘baby boy.’ We used to joke about how both she and Oliver, my father-in-law, were the babies of their families, and Eldon (my husband) and I were the babies of our families. We would always say we are doing pretty good for a bunch of babies!
“Ruby was the queen of making do. She and Oliver were poor throughout their entire fifty-six years together, but you wouldn’t be able to tell it by anything Ruby said or did. She never let on like they didn’t have money for anything she wanted; she always found a suitable alternative to whatever it was.
“Often you would see Ruby crocheting hand towels or working on some type of sewing project to make a little extra money. Oh, how she loved to craft and bring smiles to people’s faces. Another one of her fine traits was her wonderful salesman skills. It has been said that Ruby could sell ice to an Eskimo and make them think they were getting a steal!
“I could go on and on about how special this woman was to me and my family, but with tears rolling down my face while thinking about her, I will end with this special recipe that she was known for, Five-Cup Fruit Salad. Now folks, this is just a basic little fruit salad that I am sure many of you have tasted in some variation, but to our family, it is five layers of love, happiness, joy, family, and faith.
“Ruby passed away a few years ago and our family hasn’t been the same since. I still miss her so much and would love to walk into her home and hear that sweet voice say, ‘Howdy Doody, Momma Moo.’” Serves 5 or 6
1 cup mini marshmallows (fruit-flavored or plain)
1 cup canned mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed
1 cup pineapple chunks, drained
1 cup fruit cocktail, drained
Mix together all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Five-Cup Fruit Salad will keep, in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.
Christy’s Note: This salad is just flat-out delicious and it’s almost too simple to believe! The wonderful thing about it is that you can substitute whatever is in season or add your favorite fruits to it to make it your own. I fell in love with it right off.
What to do when the fruit you crave isn’t in season? There are some wonderful fruit salads that can be made entirely of canned fruit, or of canned fruit with a mixture of fresh. Salads like this are often budget-friendly and still have the pop of flavor along with many of the vitamins that fresh fruit salads offer. I always keep a few cans of my favorite fruit cocktail (in juice) in my pantry so I can whip it up with whatever fresh fruit I have on hand and a light dressing (if desired). Refrigerate until cold and have a summer-worthy treat year-round.
Most families have some version of this Orange Dream recipe in their files. My mother, who has always held the orange Creamsicle pop in highest regard, loves to whip this up for her and my father as a light dessert.
The “guilt-free” in the title comes from using sugar-free Jell-O and pudding, and light whipped topping. If you are not watching calories or sugar in your diet, this recipe works equally well with the regular ones. Serves 4 to 6
1 box (3 ounces) sugar-free orange gelatin
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges in light syrup
1 box (3 ounces) sugar-free vanilla instant pudding mix
1 container (8 ounces) light frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed
1 Place 1 cup water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin until dissolved.
2 Drain the syrup from the mandarin oranges into the gelatin and stir. Set the mixture aside to cool to room temperature.
3 Pour the cooled gelatin mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the pudding mix. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
4 Use a large spoon to fold in the whipped topping until well blended. Stir in the mandarin oranges and transfer the salad to a serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, 2 hours.
Guilt-Free Orange Dream Salad will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
If you’ve never had grape salad before, you’re missing out on one of the most refreshing salads of summer! I usually go with Miss Barbara Ingram’s grape salad recipe whenever I make some. Hers has stood the test of time and has been served at countless weddings and bridal showers. You don’t have to use two different kinds of grapes unless you just want to; they are there to add more color to the final dish. This recipe makes a large amount, so feel free to cut it in half. Serves 8 to 10
2 pounds seedless green grapes
2 pounds seedless red grapes
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 container (8 ounces) sour cream
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped pecans
1 Remove the grapes from the stems and place them in a colander. Rinse well with cold water and drain.
2 Mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and well mixed, 1 to 2 minutes. Fold in the grapes and stir well until completely coated.
3 Spoon the salad into a large serving bowl and sprinkle with the chopped pecans. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Must-Have Grape Salad will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
In 2013, my grandmama went to heaven to be with her beloved Jay (my granddaddy). I used to tell her that when she died I was going to tell the story of why she was called “Old Scrap Iron” and she would always laugh and say, “Oh, I don’t care if you tell it now, but you better tell it after I die at least because that’s a funny story!”
So Grandmama, I’m gonna keep my word. When Grandmama was a girl, they always lived out in the country. Around the time she was fourteen—she was such a gangly thing that you wouldn’t have been able to tell her from a boy if not for her skirt—they lived in an old shack house with a raised front porch. Grandmama would go out every spare chance she got to look for pieces of scrap iron to sell to the scrap iron man when he rolled through town.
The problem was that the scrap iron man came only once a month, so if you didn’t catch him, you had to wait a whole other month to sell your scrap iron. On the day he happened to come through, Grandmama was in her bedroom taking what we call a “spit bath,” which is basically washing with a bowl of water and an old rag. She heard someone call out “Scrap iron man’s a-comin’!” and she got so excited thinking of how much she’d found and how much money she would be able to get for it that she took off out of her room, crawling up under the porch to collect all of her pieces before running out to the road to meet the scrap iron man.
She sold her iron and then turned around to find the stern face of her mother (my great-grandmother Lela). Only then did she realize that in her haste and excitement, she had failed to put her shirt on! She said, “Mama whipped me all the way back to the house!” She and Lela laughed whenever they told that story for the rest of their lives. One of Grandmama’s brother’s friends would call from time to time and say, “Well, hello there, Old Scrap Iron!” And that is how my sweet grandmama Lucille got her nickname!
Lucille “Scrap Iron” Sanders Pockrus as a teenager.
Mama and I have been enjoying this salad for more than twenty years, ever since a friend on a diet passed on the recipe, calling it “Super Fruit.” We make ours sugar-free and it ends up counting as a fruit on most diets, but with a lot more flavor and variety than eating a single banana or apple. Feel free to add fresh fruit along with the canned or use fresh fruit entirely. Serves 4 to 6
2 cans (14 ounces each) no-sugar-added fruit cocktail
1 can (15 ounces) no-sugar-added mandarin oranges, peaches, or fruit of your choice
1 box (1 ounce) sugar-free vanilla instant pudding mix
1 Drain the juice from the cans of fruit into a medium-size bowl. Add the pudding mix and stir with a wire whisk until smooth.
2 Add the fruit and stir until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours before serving. Enjoy!
Super Fruit will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for 2 to 3 days.
I know that there are a lot of folks who have to watch their sugar intake for one reason or another. For that reason I have included several recipes that call for sugar-free ingredients. Those recipes work very well with sugar-free products and have passed my taste test. Of course, feel free to use regular products if you do not have a problem with sugar. All of these recipes will work great with either choice.
In Greek mythology, ambrosia was known as the food of the gods. One taste of this and it’s easy to see that this delicious fruit salad combination was aptly named. This salad has played a key role in family reunions, church potlucks, and summer picnics for as long as I can remember. It’s simple to throw together, but don’t let the simplicity fool you: This is a heavenly fruit salad that lives up to its name. Serves 5 or 6
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks, drained and juice reserved
1 large apple, peeled and chopped
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup sour cream
1 can (15 ounces) fruit cocktail, drained
2 cans (15 ounces each) mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 Place the pineapple juice in a small bowl and add the chopped apple. Stir to coat and set aside.
2 Place the sugar and sour cream in a large mixing bowl. Stir together until well combined.
3 Drain the apples, discarding the pineapple juice or saving it for another use, and add them to the sugar mixture. Add the pineapple chunks, fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, marshmallows, chopped pecans, and shredded coconut and stir well.
4 Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled before serving.
Ambrosia will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.
This is a fluffy, creamy fruit salad that’s taken over the top by pieces of juicy fruit in every bite. The salad tastes rich and sweet, but we actually make it with low-sugar ingredients (you can go full sugar if you like).
Why the name? Well, my mother developed this recipe while I was recovering from breaking both of my legs in a horse riding accident. We both got a kick out of the name then and still giggle over it now. We’ve proved time and again that a sense of humor can make any situation better. Serves 6 to 8
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple tidbits
1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges
1 box (3 ounces) sugar-free vanilla instant pudding mix
10 to 12 maraschino cherries
½ cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 container (8 ounces) light or regular frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed
1 Drain the juices from the pineapple tidbits, crushed pineapple, and mandarin oranges into a large mixing bowl. Whisk the pudding mix into the juices until smooth and creamy.
2 Cut the mandarin oranges and maraschino cherries in half and add them, the pineapple, and the pecans, if using, to the pudding mixture. Stir gently to combine. Fold in the whipped topping.
3 Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours before serving.
Whoa Horsey Salad will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.