I was gifted a copy of the Joys of Jell-O by my great aunt and I decided to have a jello themed Christmas party. It’s been 5 years, and I’m still banned from hosting Christmas party by my friends.

jello salad desserts continue to be a staple of my midwestern family gatherings. usually it's strawberry jello mixed with cool whip and canned fruit, but we do occasionally go with other recipes. i genuinely had no idea they were largely a regional thing now until a few years ago. funny how when you grow up with something you just assume everybody else did, too.

I actually physically recoiled at the mention of mayonnaise as a Jell-O topping

I'm old enought to remember the Jello salad days of the 1960s, including the savoury flavours. Well . . . most of it was bad and some of it was positively traumatising. Not all of it was bad, though. The original recipe for Perfection Salad, made with unflavoured gelatin, is actually very good, and I'm not surprised it's still around over 100 years later, even if less popular. The Joy of Cooking has recipes for citrus gelatine desserts, made with unflavoured gelatin and fresh juices, and these are really good too - a treat compared to their Jello imitations. The lemon jelly recipe can also be made with lime juice (go easy on the food colouring for any of them if you use it at all), and both the orange and lemon jelly recipes can be Frankensteined for pink grapefruit juice. All are delicious and especially good in summer. There is only one recipe using flavoured gelatin I like, and it too is in the Joy: raspberry Jello made with strong tea instead of water, and after it has partially set fresh raspberries are folded in before letting it set completely. The tea is what made me decide to try this, so I put behind me the horrifying childhood memories of canned fruit cocktail and/or miniature marshmallows mummified in orange or lime Jello and gave it a go. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I have decided these recipes will serve to expunge the rest of the jelly salad repertoire from my memory.

Okay, I'm an older baby boomer, but I eat Jell-O salads made with sugar free Jell-O and fruit all the time. My mother made concoctions that I never want to see again, but plain Jell-O with fruit is a handy way to get my portion of fruit for the day.

My mother-in-law is (in)famous for her Jello Taco Salad. Seasoned ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, shredded cheese, taco chips, etc. all suspended in gelatin.

Mom used to make orange jello, with shredded carrots and pineapple, served with a mayonnaise sauce.

Ignoring for now the undertone of “being a wife/mother was the loser-est job ever,” there is more to the idea of exactly why jello, processed, and convenience types of food were so popular after WW2. You kind of touched on it when saying that the modern ‘50s housewife was a contrast to the Russian factory working women. The idea that being modern was the answer to all of the problems of the world. “Old-fashioned” meant poverty and hard labor. Being modern meant household gadgets, food that required minimal prep times and used all of these new labor saving devices. Advertisers were working hard to promote the narrative that buying every mixer, washer, new style refrigerator, new style vacuum, etc., was going to alleviate the “burdens” of being a housewife. Like now, the post WW2 woman was not supposed spend her life drudging over housework like old world women did. They were supposed to take care of these things with the touch of a button, allowing them plenty of time for more social things. It wasn’t until around the late ‘60s and ‘70s that the next generation rebelled against the idea that modern=better and started bringing back more natural foods, colors, and styles. It’s a shame to just brush the first half of the 20th century under the rug of “let’s laugh at them for being old-fashioned.“ Each cultural swing has many driving forces, and people will look back and roll their eyes at those of us living in the 2020s just as much as you are rolling your eyes at the Jell-O of the 1950s.

Now I want to see John Townsend make Thomas Jefferson's Wine Jelly. It even contains nutmeg!

Glad you finally made it into the exclusive Members Only club 😜 And yes, as a child of the 80's I had Jello Salads thrust upon me many times. Most of them were a disgusting mess. Fruit in Jello is passable but beyond that, nope.

As a Utah native of almost 50 years I have had many Jello salads but never one with mayonnaise. Cool Whip or better still actual whipped cream is the topping of choice. But the best of the lot has a graham cracker mixed with crushed pretzels crust, cream cheese. raspberries, then covered with raspberry flavored jello. Just enough salt and tart to cut the sweet without overwhelming it and a creamy finish. It is usually the first to disappear at any potluck gathering it shows up at. Be it family reunion, church social, or work potluck lunch. Also spent a couple of years in Southern Africa where Jello is only a dessert. But learned the joys of the British trifle where jello is one of the four main standard layers. Not always but usually.

It would not be Thanksgiving without my mother-in-law's cranberry orange Jello salad with walnuts. It is delicious and makes me feel about eight years old. I ask her to bring it or serve it every year. One of the most awesome memories I have is my 14-year old self nailing my obnoxious cousin with a spoonful of lime and Coolwhip Jello salad. It was about 1980 and the movie "Grand Theft Auto" had come out a few years before. It must have been showing on tv that summer and my cousin thought that the line "Piss off, Pig!" was the coolest thing that he had ever heard. He kept yelling it at all of us until we were sick of it. We all asked him to drop it but he refused. At 13, he wasn't great at reading the room, which was a wedding reception. After one too many repetitions in my face, I scooped up a spoon of my creamy green Jello salad, pulled back the bowl with the tip of my finger and aimed it at him. He leaned across the table and yelled "I dare you! You don't have the guts! I dare you!!" The sight of the blob leaving the spoon and sailing in a perfect arc to hit him right between his nose and his mouth was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. It went SPLAT all over his face and a bit even got in his hair. He attempted to retaliate by flinging a Jello jiggler at me but it just bounced off my dark skirt without leaving a mark. My siblings and cousins all burst out laughing and even he had a look of sneaking admiration at my aim and daring. He attempted to complain to his mother and mine but was told to stop being such a pest and to go clean himself up.

We’ve got a dish my family has for Christmas and Thanksgiving get togethers every year called Watergate Salad that’s got pistachio jello pudding, whipped cream, marshmallows, cherries, and pineapple all mixed together. We’ve also got strawberry pies that are really just yogurt, jello, and whipped cream mixed with strawberries and fridged or frozen until firm.

Ah, Jello. There are some neat recipes/instructions for making Lego Gummies using jello. I made a bunch for a grandson one year. He said he liked them, but who knows. I've had some in a loose jar for years and they are hard as rocks, but surprisingly, still tasty. I like the Cherry flavor best.

My grandma made several Jell-O salads for family meals back in the day, but never any super weird ones (in my memory, at least). She often made one for Easter that had lime Jell-O combined with cream cheese and a couple types of fruit mixed in. The one she ALWAYS made for Thanksgiving was lime Jell-O (without cream cheese), grapes, apples, celery, and walnuts. My mom still makes it, because she says it's not Thanksgiving without it. When I was really young, I didn't like Jell-O with any kind of fruit in it, but I got over that, and I do actually quite enjoy the ones my family still makes today. I should mention that we are white and from suburban Ohio. My husband, who is Black and Latinx and grew up in the city, thinks the Thanksgiving Jell-O salad tradition is weird, but he does like it. The thing he thinks is weirder is our tradition of serving a "relish tray" with big family meals, which is a plate of black olives, green olives, and little sweet gherkins, and sometimes sliced pickled beets and/or sliced pickled watermelon rind.

if you actually think about it, fruit jello is much weirder than meat jello

I have very fond memories of strawberry Jello with fruit cocktail and marshmallows at grandma's house.

Our family has 'ghost' jello which is lime jello with shredded carrots, cottage cheese and crushed pineapple served at Easter and Thanksgiving. The name came when one of my nephews asked my mom why she always made that green jello salad that nobody ate and she promptly replied that her mother and her grandmother always made it so now we make it too for them! My mom passed away 3 years ago and the tradition lives on with my nephew making ghost jello this year. It's actually kind of tasty!

My dad is from the Baby Boomer generation and his mom was the stereotype Midwestern/"grew up during the Depression" kind of person. I remember eating those jello salads. I hate them. My dad request these monstrosities for special occasions: his favorite is creamed orange jelly salad. Basically canned oranges mixed with whip cream set in jello.

We always have a jello salad during Christmastime and is probably a relic of the midwestern roots. If I recall correctly, it uses raspberry or strawberry jello, crushed pineapple, cool whip, and raspberries.

This reminds me of Tasting History everyone go check it out if you like this

My gma always makes a Jello salad consisting of strawberry jello, fresh strawberries and a layer of sour cream. It actually isn’t bad

The entirety of my jell-o experience is in Lutheran potlucks. We mostly had it one of two ways: 1) Fruity flavor w/corresponding pie filling(ie cherry jell-o with cherry pie filling) or 2) Jell-o fluff, plain fruit flavored jell-o whippped with cool whip(usually lemon)

In Michigan, a mainstay of potluck dinners in the 70’s was layered jello salad. It alternated clear jello with opaque jello (mixed with cream cheese). Could be pretty, but was a royal pain in the ass to prepare.

Gelatine is a superfood that gets overlooked. Most of us don't get nearly enough collagen. It's the glue that hangs our stuff onto our skeletons! It also keeps tissues fit, fighting saggy skin and leaky gut as we age. As for Jell-O salads, lemon or lime bisque and ambrosia are two excellent desserts that rescue its reputation. Grandma kept her trim figure by replacing a meal with cottage cheese and Jell-O when she had overindulged. She was a total babe, so she must have known something.

When I was a kid my dad loved a cabbage and lime Jello salad. My mom put shredded cabbage in the bottom of a baking pan then would cover it with lime jello. When chilled she cut it in squares and he would eat it with a dollop of Miracle Whip. Just writing this makes me gag but he loved it. Miss you dad, love you...

Your joke of the “Members Only” didn’t go to waste!😂

THIS is the episode I’ve been waiting for!!!

There's a salad with pistachio pudding and crushed pineapple my family still makes occasionally. It's better than it sounds, but I prefer the pudding by itself.

We make a tuna aspic every year! It’s one of those things that you don’t like at first, but you start to crave.

I've vaguely heard of Jell-O salad. I presumed it was lumps of different coloured jelly put into another jelly rather than this... delight.

I'd be interested to see an episode about ranch dressing or sloppy joes!

Having grown up in its heyday, I've had probably every variation on Jello salad that's ever been tried. My favourite is still lime Jello with shredded carrots.

Jello salad is still a staple for my family's reunions.

I’m from Minnesota where Jello is a food group at pot-lucks usually a fruit Jello with caned fruit and or cool-whip and or mini marshmallows. My grandmother use to make lime jello with thins strips of carrot and celery in it. My whole family eat it even though no one like it as I found out later.

I kind of wish the savory flavors were still available. I've got multiple Jell-O cookbooks, and I'd love to use the authentic flavors to make some of them.

At 10:40 you mention Utah. I can confirm. In fact, I was looking up a recipe for green Jell-O salad (with cottage cheese and pineapple) when I saw this video in my subscription feed. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving in Utah without green Jell-O.

Members Only. Nice Touch.

My sister-in-law used to make a tomato aspic with slices of green olive floating in it. Looked like eyeballs floating in blood. Still gives me the willies when I think of it.

BTW way... I love the Member's Only jacket you are wearing...I had four... and one was blue... how I miss this style...

My family came to stay in california during the 1980's from across the pond in the UK. We had our 1st encounter with a jello salad in 1983 about 2 weeks 😋 after we arrived. We were all very surprised at the concept, as 'jelly 'as ìt is known in the UK was always a sweet dish with maybe some fruit thrown in .l have to say we never really embraced the sweet with savoury idea of jello but it was always a good talking 👄 point. I really enjoy your channel ☺ by the way. 😘

Love the members only jacket!!

I am envious of how well his nail polish matches his jacket

Great video. Very interesting

Lutherans say Jello salad had a snob factor built in... potluck coming up? Back in the day show up with a molded Jello creation and well shut the front door but you must have a brand new refrigerator ‼️

Utah is the Jell-O capitol of the world and was featured in the 2002 Winter Olympics pin trading communities as one of the rarest pins to...ahem.. "pin down". Green Jello-O with carrot shavings topped with Cool Whip (emphasis on the hhhwhip) and funeral potatoes are the most consumed food in the state.

I was raised in Utah, but my mother- who was from the East Coast - hated jello, and we only ate it (with no added ingredients) when we had a stomach flu. As a young college student in Alaska, working in the dorm cafeteria, my head cooked asked: "Wait, you are from Utah and don't know how to make jello OR peanut butter bars?" You might need to be a Utahn to get this, but it's super funny.

Many who ate jello salads as adults in their 20s & 30# were likely born during the Great Depression.... I suppose Jell-O salad looks impressive & eating it is preferable to starving; but only for a bit. Once the US was stable & food was more plentiful jello salads largely disappeared. This is for good reason 🤣

It would be nice to have an episode about Tex-Mex food such as burritos, chimichangas, etc.

there is even a Jello museum in Le Roy, NY

Just wait a couple decades for the great Jell-O comeback. The fact that we think it's nasty will only make it more appealing to our descendants.

Processed meats (especially spam) would be a very cool topic.

I own a copy of a 70s Joys of Jello and my friend and I make the weirder recipes all the time as a fun/easy thing to do together that’s also adventurous while staying inside cause of miss rona!

Was a child in the 60s. Hated that stuff!

I wouldn't mind trying some of this weird mid-century Jell-O and convenience aspic, but I can't imagine liking any of it. I like plain Jell-O and "Jell-O and fruit" and "Jell-O, fruit, and whipped cream" but there are some Jell-O family desserts I've never had more than twice that make the rounds every year of my life. Still, though, I'd love to try this weird shit, I just couldn't imagine wasting the food to make a full dish. Maybe I need to get a +1 at one of these oddball mid-century potlucks.

"In my defense, I'm an idiot" Damn that's a familiar feeling

A bit surprised you didn't mention flummery, which was very popular for several centuries.

Nah, Mr. Dodd, you aren't an idiot. You just think outside the Jell-O mold.

I bought a Jello cookbook from an antique store (I think it was The Joys of Jell-O actually) and it had a bunch of weird savory dishes. The one that stuck with me was making a "bowl" of Jell-O to hold shrimp. Just...why?

Ive been recently been making lots of double chocolate panna cotta. So er yay unflavored gelatine! I need to stop eating so much of thia wonderful stuff.

If you close your eyes you can hear Deadpool's voice presenting jell-o

Montijello 😂😂😂🤣😭

My family has two different jello recipes. One has pistachio pudding mix, cool whip, and pineapple. And the other is basically the same except no pistachios, but instead, its grated cheddar cheese. I know it sounds... gross, and I thought so too when I first heard of it, but its surprisingly great. One of my favorite dishes still.

I doubt anyone was throwing away the 'animal parts' gelatin is derived from. I make 10 hr soup broths all the time. Now, we even have crock pots. Very effortless, just takes time. Superb for soups and many other dishes.

Whenever my extended family has potlucks, my great aunt brings orange cottage cheese jello salad. I think it's an abomination, but the oldest members of my family love it.

BTW... I love the Member

Rainbow Jello is what is still made here.. It has all the good stuffs,, crushed fruit in 1 layer, cream cheese in 1, pudding in another,, all the colors,, MMM

Why am I only just now noticing the historic Member's Only jacket?

Years ago I made a gelatin salad in the shape of a fish, including a sliced olive for the eye and pimento for the scales. The joke? It was chicken!

If Mont e jello joke had a place.... it's here.

The holy roman empire of salads...

Lived in Utah for a bit and yeah, potlucks are an insane amount of Jello. They also eat an absolutely insane amount of soda and sugary shit

I like most Jello salads as long as they don't have tuna in them. Tuna has got to be the most horrible tasting food ever. Its just plain nasty. My mother would force me to eat it after she drained off all the oil and washed it in hot water. All I could have with it was a wedge of grapefruit. Never could stand the taste or smell of it. Bon appetite to those who like it.

Came here after Joyce made Jell-O salad

Gave decades of my time to corporations who never gave a 💩 about me. Taking care of my home for my loving husband and daughter is the most rewarding work there is. The truth is women have always done both.

I was binging Misconceptions just now! Did I generate another one???? JK ;) Edit: Actually, wow, really just kidding. This is food history. Ha!

The fact that "jell-o sallad" predates LSD is mind-boggling. How do you enjoy a pure abomination like this without being in an altered state of mind?

Whatever that was... thank god its over... (great video tho!)

Helices...?

Hello, yellow Jell-o fellow

Marshmallows, OK. Meat and vegetables, no. Just, no.

Bell pepper, cabbage, olives. I hate them all

Montijello. see yourself out.

What is this, Tasting History? 😅

In my household if my mother, had put some "goop-milange" like that on the table, us, kids would've thought my mother mad/crazy -- & dangerous to know! 🥺😳😬 Run!!!🤭

"Wow, that's salty!" That's what she said 😏

The real phenomenon is the size and constancy of the dump you'll end up taking after eating Jell-O salad !!! 😳 *"NUFF SAID"™*

Waffle house food history would be cool, please. Thank you for making videos!

This child of the 50s never once had such an abomination in his home.

This is exactly the sort of culinary crime against humanity I'd expect from the USA... irredeemably nauseating. 🤢