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Pineapple Ambrosia
I fresh pineapple
2 tablespoons sugar
½ pound marshmallows
1½ tablespoons lemon-juice
1 cup heavy cream
Shred the pineapple with a fork. Cut the marshmallows into small pieces, using a pair of scissors. Mix the pineapple and marshmallows and let stand on ice until thoroughly chilled. Just before serving, whip the cream and add the sugar to it. Add lemon-juice to the pineapple mixture and then fold in the whipped cream. Serve immediately in individual glasses or in a large dessert dish.
A no-cook folded dessert that depends entirely on the pineapple being fresh and the cream being cold. Everything else is assembly.
- Shredding with a forkThe pineapple is peeled, cored and then raked lengthwise with a fork so the flesh comes away in juicy threads rather than cubes. Canned crushed pineapple is not a substitute here — it is cooked, much sweeter, and gives a slack, syrupy result. Drain the shredded fruit lightly if it is very wet.
- Half a pound of marshmallowsThat is 8 oz, roughly thirty large marshmallows or about four to five cups of the miniature kind, which can be used whole and skip the cutting. Marshmallows of the period were probably softer and less aerated than modern ones. Wet the scissor blades to stop them gumming up.
- On ice means several hoursOn ice -- The chilling probably also lets the marshmallows absorb pineapple juice and soften into the fruit. The recipe sets no time; a couple of hours in the refrigerator, covered, will more than satisfy "thoroughly chilled."
- Why no gelatin sets hereFresh pineapple contains bromelain, which digests gelatin, so this mixture will not set as a jelly; it is held together by whipped cream instead. Do not try to convert it into a jellied version with fresh fruit — and note that, given long enough, the enzyme will soften the marshmallows themselves.
- The creamOne cup of heavy cream whips to about two cups. Whip only to soft peaks — the folding will stiffen it further, and over-whipped cream turns grainy against the acid of the fruit. Chill the bowl and beaters.
- Order of operationsThe lemon juice goes into the fruit, not the cream, where it sharpens the sweetness of the marshmallows.
- Serve immediately is literalThe pineapple juice will in time thin the cream and a watery layer collects at the bottom of the glass. Fold and plate at the table if you can.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; the quantities suggest something like six modest servings in stemmed glasses, or four generous ones. It is very sweet; small portions suit it better.
Ambrosia in American cookery originally meant little more than sliced oranges layered with sugar and grated coconut, a Southern dish recorded from the later nineteenth century and named for the food of the gods. By the early twentieth century the name had loosened to cover almost any cold fruit-and-cream confection, and marshmallows — commercially manufactured, cheap, uniform, and sold in every grocery — were a fashionable addition, letting a household produce a soft set without cooking or moulding gelatin. The pairing of pineapple and marshmallow ran through American home cooking for decades afterward, in salads and desserts alike.