Jell-O Salads: A Slice of American History
I don’t know how it is in other people’s families, but in mine, whenever a holiday meal comes about there are at least one or two Jell-O dishes. There’s a wide range of different dishes you can make from Jell-O. My grandma’s Jell-O dish staples are lime Jell-O mixed with cottage cheese, marshmallows, and pineapples, and black cherry Jell-O with chunks of cherry suspended throughout and a cream cheese base.
This year, being hours away from home, I ended up going to a college buddies for Thanksgiving, and they had two separate Jell-O dishes at their gathering as well, neither of which were the same as my grandmas. This got me thinking about Jell-O dishes, or as they are more commonly called, Jell-O salads.
The term “Jell-O salad” covers a large range of dishes, both savory and sweet. Jell-O salads started to gain traction in the early 1900’s, but they really took off in the 1950’s. According to an article from seriouseats.com though, gelatin as a food item dates back to medieval Europe. Gelatin was a dessert dish for the upper class, and the recipe to make gelatin travelled with settlers in the United States, and eventually gained popularity as a quick and easy meal that allowed you to stretch your leftovers, meaning you could stretch your budget as well.
This meant that a large multitude of different items were being added to Jell-O, ranging from tuna, to pickles, to actual salads, lettuce, tomato and all.
These dishes were so popular that for a few years, Jell-O had released savory flavors, such as seasoned tomato flavor and celery flavor.
While there were a multitude of Jell-O dishes meant for the main course, there were still dessert Jell-O dishes as well, such as the ones my grandma still makes to this day, and the dessert Jell-O salads are still popular in some parts of America, especially among the older generation.
While the popularity of Jell-O salads have declined over the years as fast food became more popular and dinner got more convenient to make via frozen and canned foods, you can still find Jell-O salads at potlucks and find people making them online.
A popular TikTok account going by @bdylanhollis has made several short videos of himself making and trying old Jell-O salad recipes, and a couple Jell-O salad recipe recommendations have been made by the TikTok account @thatmidwesternmom.
Jell-O salads may not be as popular as they were in the 1950’s, but it seems that they’re here to stay, regardless.
