Great Aunt Pearl's 24-Hour Salad

This "salad" of marshmallows, whipped cream and fruit (recipe below) inspired a lot of good Christmas party conversation. I brought it to two different parties, with full disclosure that it was my great aunt's recipe from the 1960s. (I think the 1960s part went without saying. It did look a little out of place). The photo to the left is from a Betty Crocker cookbook for a similar 24-hour salad, and looks pretty much like what I made.

Making the salad was a little more challenging than I expected. I did all my shopping for this at Whole Foods, which meant that I had to buy the organic, preservative-free but extremely sweet and oddly stiff eco-marshmallows that Whole Foods sells. Once I got home and gave a few of them to my daughter and her visiting friend, I dug down further in the bag and realized they were moldy. Yuck! I guess preservatives do serve a purpose. I would rather have ancient, rock-hard mini marshmallows than mildewy ones. This inevitably led to a confession to the playdate's mother that I had fed her daughter moldy marshmallows. Happily, she took in it in stride, and both little girls' immune systems (and mine) kicked in to save us from a night of puking. Jeff brought home a bag of traditional, preservative-enhanced marshmallows to fill the void.

Also, there aren't any white cherries to be had in December (and I'm not sure if I've seen them any other time of the year either), so I went with canned pie cherries.

Next came the strangest part of the recipe - the cooking of the egg-and-lemon substance that binds the salad together. I'm not used to making lemon curd (which is essentially what this is), and I wasn't sure what it was supposed to look like when it was fully cooked, so I cooked the hell out of it. I didn't want to give anyone salmonella. Maybe because of this - and maybe not - I thought the salad ended up with a strong eggy taste that I found kind of disgusting. I'm not used to the combination of fruit and eggs. (Is anyone?)

I wasn't sure if the eggy taste was "right" or not, but my first taste tester (our babysitter) said that it tasted exactly like the salad her grandmother used to make. And when I brought it to the first party, people really seemed to like it - to my surprise. The great thing about it was that it led to a lot of good conversations about recipes of the sixties, relatives, family recipe collections, etc. The reaction at the second party was just as good. People liked the crunch of the slivered almonds and the fact that this recipe really isn't too sweet, despite the marshmallows. Interestingly, our French acquaintance Sebastien ended up being its biggest fan; he ate four servings. French food isn't big on marshmallows, so maybe it was the novelty.

So the salad was a success, even though I didn't like it much myself, due to the eggs. If I make it again, which I might, I'll find a way to bind it together without them. I'll also add more almonds and maybe some apple to give it more crunch.

I did a search for 24-hour salad and found that this recipe is still alive and well on the internet. Apparently, it was very popular at one time; and most of the recipes do contain eggs. Another blogger who is exploring mid-century recipes wrote it about a slightly different version here. Most of the versions I found (like this one, which hilariously labels it as Italian) call for vinegar and egg yolks instead of entire eggs. Gotta love the (computer-generated?) text that goes along with this:

Its surprising to know that you have not tried my 24 Hour Fruit Salad recipe yet. This recipe is ideal for people on a Low Fat regimen. This compelling 24 Hour Fruit Salad is the Side Dish of choice for a winning meal... The Italian 24 Hour Fruit Salad is a delight to serve and enjoy. I will look forward to your feedback.

Right, because anything made with whipping cream, marshmallows and butter has got to be low fat, right?

[Recipe to follow; I have mislaid my cookbook!]