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Jello Dessert
1 package lemon jello 1/20 can crushed pineapple Add pineapple, marshmallows and rice. Let harden-serve with cream. 1. can pineapple 20 marshmallows 8 marshmallows-cut 1 C cooked rice Mrs. C. L. Thomson.
The typed original has been scrambled somewhere between the church basement and the printer, with the ingredient list broken across the method. Read it as: one package lemon gelatin, one can crushed pineapple, about 20 marshmallows cut up, and one cup of cooked rice, set together and served with cream.
- The mangled quantities"1/20 can crushed pineapple" and the two separate marshmallow lines -- look like duplication damage rather than instructions. The workable reading is one can of crushed pineapple, drained, and something on the order of 20 marshmallows cut up; the exact original figures, including the can size, cannot be recovered.
- A package of jelloIn this period a package of flavoured gelatin was 3 ounces, setting one pint of liquid. Modern boxes are 3 oz or 6 oz, so check before you buy; the 6 oz box will need double the water and will overwhelm the fruit and rice.
- Use the canned pineappleCanned pineapple is heat-treated, which destroys bromelain, the enzyme that digests gelatin protein. Fresh or frozen pineapple substituted here will leave you with lemon syrup that never sets.
- Liquid accountingDrain the pineapple and count its juice as part of the cold water called for on the gelatin package, or the dessert will stay slack. The rice also releases a little starch and moisture as it chills.
- Order of assemblyLet the dissolved gelatin cool to the consistency of raw egg white before folding in the rice, fruit and marshmallows. In hot or still-liquid gelatin the marshmallows soften and lose their shape, and the rice and fruit settle to the bottom.
- The ricePlain boiled white rice, cooled and unseasoned. It may well have been leftover rice from a previous meal, though the recipe says only "cooked rice".
- "Let harden"Four to six hours in the refrigerator, or overnight. A ring mould or a loaf pan both work; dip briefly in warm water to turn out.
- Cream, and yield"Serve with cream" most likely means pouring cream rather than whipped, though whipped is no betrayal. Made as reconstructed it will fill a mould of a quart or more; figure on six servings.
Powdered flavoured gelatin was a household staple, cheap and shelf-stable in a way that sheet gelatin and calf's-foot jelly never were, and church cookbooks are thick with molded salads and desserts built on it. What marks this one as period cooking is the cup of cooked rice: leftovers stretched into a company dish, with marshmallows and canned pineapple standing in for anything more expensive. Canned crushed pineapple had become widely available from Hawaii in the early twentieth century and turns up constantly in these collections, usually paired with gelatin, marshmallows or both. The recipe is credited to Mrs. C. L. Thomson in the manner of all such books, where a dish carried its contributor's name as its warranty.