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This week I felt like making something sparkly and pretty, so I remade this Ginger Ale Salad recipe that I originally tested for Glory Days Magazine. Because what’s more sparkly than a gelatin?

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This is Ginger Ale Salad!

AuthorRetroRuth
Rating

From The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, 1946

Tested Recipe!

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 1 envelope unflavored gelatin.25 oz or 1 tablespoon
 4 tbsp cold water
 ½ cup boiling fruit juiceThe juice from the canned pineapple can be used
 ½ cup sugar
  tsp salt
 2 cups ginger ale or ginger beer
 Juice of one small lemon
 1 cup seedless green or red grapessliced in half
 1 orangepeeled, sectioned and roughly chopped
 1 pink grapefruitpeeled, sectioned and roughly chopped
 ½ cup canned pineapple tidbits
 ½ cup crystallized gingerchopped finely

1

Soak gelatin in cold water until it blooms. Add sugar to the boiling fruit juice and stir until mostly dissolved, then add the bloomed gelatin to this mixture, and stir again until it is dissolved. Add the salt, ginger ale and lemon juice. Stir lightly to avoid losing the carbonation in the ginger ale. Chill until partially set.

2

Add grapes, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, and candied ginger. Stir and pour into a 5 cup gelatin mold. Refrigerate until firm.

Ingredients

 1 envelope unflavored gelatin.25 oz or 1 tablespoon
 4 tbsp cold water
 ½ cup boiling fruit juiceThe juice from the canned pineapple can be used
 ½ cup sugar
  tsp salt
 2 cups ginger ale or ginger beer
 Juice of one small lemon
 1 cup seedless green or red grapessliced in half
 1 orangepeeled, sectioned and roughly chopped
 1 pink grapefruitpeeled, sectioned and roughly chopped
 ½ cup canned pineapple tidbits
 ½ cup crystallized gingerchopped finely

Directions

1

Soak gelatin in cold water until it blooms. Add sugar to the boiling fruit juice and stir until mostly dissolved, then add the bloomed gelatin to this mixture, and stir again until it is dissolved. Add the salt, ginger ale and lemon juice. Stir lightly to avoid losing the carbonation in the ginger ale. Chill until partially set.

2

Add grapes, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, and candied ginger. Stir and pour into a 5 cup gelatin mold. Refrigerate until firm.

Ginger Ale Salad

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This is a classic salad that introduced the idea of adding carbonated beverages to gelatin salads, which is quite possibly one of the greatest ideas for a sweet gelatin salad since the idea of adding fruit. Though in the books that I’ve read Fannie Farmer is credited with this original idea, this particular recipe is from the 1946 edition of the Joy of Cooking, which referred to this salad as, “about the best molded fruit salad.”

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I love the cover of this edition!

The original recipe called for “Canton ginger”, which was high-quality crystalized or candied ginger, and recommended that this salad be served on lettuce with a cream mayonnaise garnish. We skipped the mayo, but hey, if you like mayo with your fruit I’m the last person to judge. In this book’s defense, it mostly likely refers to a homemade mayo, which was probably very good.

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“It’s so sparkly. It’s fizzing while I’m eating it.”

“I know. I was in the mood for some sparkle.”

The Verdict: Delicious

From The Tasting Notes –

This is a really fun gelatin. I love the fizzy sparkle of ginger ale and the spiciness of the candied ginger. The mix of canned and fresh fruit is also a nice touch. This thing was packed with fruit, so if you like a little more wiggle in your gelatin, feel free to reduce the fruit. Otherwise really good. Nothing really to complain about here!

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