Pineapple-Cream Cheese Gelatin Salad is a salad? In many ways, it is a "dream salad" for me, with no vegetables,tomatoes, greens, or other healthy stuff. It seems like this should be called pineapple-cream cheese jello dessert. But this is often served as a salad at gatherings alongside the main dish.
Jello and gelatin are popular in Amish homes, they didn't really take off until Amish bulk food stores started stocking it more in the 1970s but now gelatin is as much a part of Amish life as butter and flour.
Hmmmm, you know, I'd be skeptical of this recipe, but if my friend Carmon Hacker made it than it must be good. Yep, she's one of those people that if she makes it, it's good. Or great. Otherwise, I'd be not very enthused about this recipe. I guess I'm just not a huge gelatin fan. Nor am a I huge pineapple fan. Well, geez, I have a love-hate relationship with pineapple. If it's a perfect pineapple - juicy, yet firm - and someone else has gone through the trouble of slicing it or chunking it for me, and it's cold, and perhaps its tossed in with some other fruit then, yes, I will like it. SIGH, I am sounding like such a curmudgeon.
🍍 The Amish and Pineapple
If you didn't think the Amish and pineapple had much in common in terms of culinary history, you would be correct. Pineapple in a staple of the tropics, where as the Amish have European culinary roots. Pineapple was pretty much absent from Amish cookbooks and recipe collections through much of the 20th century.
While the Amish have been historically pretty self-sufficient as far as food goes (i.e. growing and raising their own vegetables and livestock), locally-owned, Amish-owned bulk food stores became more common by the mid-20th century. These bulk food stores didn't have freezer sections or coolers, so most of the items sold had to be shelf-stable and non-perishable.
Canned pineapple fit that bill and began to be sold in Amish bulk food stores. Amish homemakers increasingly sampled it and pineapple soon became a favorite.
Today, Amish people often head to Walmart or the local supermarket to shop and fresh pineapple is often seen and sampled.
❓ FAQ Pineapple-Gelatin Salad
Yes, you can swap out the pineapple for strawberries, bananas, apples, or whatever other fruit you want to experiment with!
No, because of enyzmes in the pineapple, the gelatin will not set properly.
Pineapple-cream cheese gelatin salad is staple of holiday gatherings like Easter and Thanksgiving and also Amish after-church gatherings and potlucks!
📋 Step-by-Step Instructions
Pineapple-Cream Cheese Gelatin Salad is super easy to make while packing an amazing flavor punch.
Here is what else Carmon has to say about Pineapple-Cream Cheese Gelatin Salad:
Pineapple-Cream Cheese Gelatin Salad is delicious to serve alongside a meal or as a dessert with whipped cream and additional fresh fruit, if desired. The flavor of gelatin may be substituted, according to your preferences. Lime jell-o is a good choice at Christmas, and cherry is nice at Valentine’s Day or Fourth of July.
Strawberry jello is a tasty variation for spring. If you count the boiling water, this recipe only takes 4 ingredients! If you want an old-fashioned dessert salad like mom or grandma used to make, this is it. Let's see how to make it:
You can experiment with this salad by adding different flavors to the cream cheese mixture by experimenting with different gelatin flavors, or adding pecans (or other nuts) and marshmallows
Of course, Philadelphia cream cheese is the main brand in the United States, but you can use store-brand cream cheeses. Use a whisk to stir the boiling water and gelatin.
Use a decorative ceramic bowl or just a plain metal or glass one. Top the salad with a slice of orange and a cherry or whatever other decorative garnish your imagination can come up with!
This dessert salad is one you don't have to bake, takes minimal prep time,
🥗 More Amish Salad Recipes
📋 Full Recipe
Ingredients
- 6-oz. package orange gelatin
- 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
- 20-oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
- 4 cups boiling water
Instructions
- Place gelatin in a large bowl.
- Slowly stir in 4 cups boiling water and mix well.
- Mix in cream cheese until dissolved. (Consistency will be slightly lumpy.)
- Refrigerate until it begins to thicken, about one hour.
- Blend in crushed pineapple and allow mixture to completely set in refrigerator, about three hours or overnight.
Mary Gruber
I made this today. Sorry to say it is awful. Followed directions. Feel like I've missed something.
Kevin
Sorry to hear that, Mary, if you have any more details about what might have happened, let me know and I can check in to it
Paulette Reyenga
— Fresh raw pineapple shouldn't be used in Jello salad because it contains protease enzymes. These will prevent the gelatin from gelling