Ambrosia
Pare and slice as many oranges as you choose, in a glass bowl Sprinkle sugar and grated cocoanut over each layer.--Mrs. W. C. R.
Ambrosia.
Cut pineapple and orange in slices, sprinkle with sugar, and put in a deep dish alternately to form a pyramid. Put grated cocoanut between each layer. If you like, pour good Madeira or sherry wine over the dish.--Mrs. T.
Two versions of the same Southern dessert, both essentially assembly rather than cooking. The only real work is the coconut, and the only real decision is how long it sits before serving.
- The coconut is the hingeFor the original cook this meant cracking a whole coconut, prying out the meat and grating it by hand; the milky, barely sweet result is what makes the dish. Modern sweetened flaked coconut turns ambrosia cloying, so use unsweetened frozen grated coconut or grate fresh, and cut the sugar accordingly.
- "Pare" the oranges properlyParing here means removing peel and all the white pith, then slicing crosswise into rounds. Navel oranges hold their shape best; if you use a juicier variety, drain the slices briefly or the bottom of the bowl floods.
- How much sugarNeither version gives a quantity. A light dusting is the intent — roughly a teaspoon per layer for six to eight oranges.
- PineappleFresh pineapple, cut in slices and cored, is what Mrs. T. means. Canned works but brings its own syrup, so omit the sugar on those layers.
- The wineMadeira or sherry poured over the top is optional; the recipe itself says "if you like." Use a medium-dry sherry or a Rainwater Madeira; a few tablespoons over the whole dish is plenty, and since nothing is cooked the alcohol stays put.
- Let it standNeither recipe says so, but ambrosia is better for an hour or two chilled, so the juices and sugar make a light syrup. Left much longer the orange slices soften and the coconut loses its texture.
- YieldSix oranges with a small pineapple and one coconut serves about eight as a light dessert.
Ambrosia — named for the food of the Greek gods — appears in American cookbooks from the 1860s onward and became fixed as a Southern Christmas dish, which is why it turns up in collections built from contributed family receipts. Its arrival depended on trade: Florida and Caribbean oranges, pineapples shipped north, and above all whole coconuts, which reached American ports in quantity through the mid-nineteenth century and were still enough of a novelty to make grating one a holiday event. The two versions here, credited only to initials, show how such books worked — the same dish collected twice from different households, printed side by side rather than reconciled. Later ambrosia acquired marshmallows, sour cream and canned fruit cocktail; these entries record it before any of that, as fruit, sugar and coconut alone.