Jello salad

Jello salad

Cranberry jello salad molded into a common ring shape
Alternative names	Gelatin salad, jelly salad, congealed salad, molded salad
Type	Salad
Course	Dessert, side dish, snack
Place of origin	United States
Region or state	Pennsylvania
Created by	Mrs. John E. Cook
Serving temperature	Chilled–room temperature
Main ingredients	Flavored gelatin (often gelatin dessert) and fruit
Variations	Adding grated carrots or other vegetables (aspic)

Jello salad is an American salad made with flavored gelatin, fruit, and sometimes grated carrots or (more rarely) other vegetables. Other ingredients may include cottage cheese, cream cheese, marshmallows, nuts, or pretzels. Jello salads were popular in the early 20th century and are now considered retro.^[1]

Because of its many elements, the result has speckled bits of interior color against a colored gelatin background, and so the dish can be appreciated for its colorful visual appeal. For example, a jello salad might have green from a lime-flavored gelatin, brown from nuts or pretzels, white from bits of cottage cheese, and red and orange from fruit cocktail. Therefore, it has a "salad appearance" (small pieces of food) although it is held firm in gelatin (like aspic). The "salad" theme is more pronounced in variants containing mayonnaise, or another salad dressing. When the dish has plain gelatin instead of sweetened gelatin, the use of vegetables is more common (e.g. tomato aspic).