Saturday, November 21, 1936

EDNA MAKES A MOLDED SALAD

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Nice Day. Seems nice to

have settled weather.

Alice and kiddies came

this morning. Alice doing

cleaning for me.

I baked angel food cake

also choc cake.

Made moulded veg salad.

Stanley came for Alice at 11 o'clock.

(Supper Menu)

Escalloped potatoes, cold roast ham,

veg salad, butter peas, red apple rings,

pickles, jelly, ice-cream cake.

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I am not a fan of Jell-O. I have bad memories of green and orange Jell-O with things like carrots and peas and mini marshmallows on the inside. It pretty much scarred me for life.

Edna is busy making food for the reception she is hosting for Helen and Red when they return from their wedding and honeymoon in Joliet including a "moulded veg salad."

Gelatin sales were on the rise by 1905 when Mrs. John Cooke of New Castle, Pennsylvania, entered her "Perfection Salad" into a cooking contest and won third prize. The salad was a molded gelatin filled with chopped cabbage, celery, and red pepper. Recipes for the salad were featured in women's magazines including Ladies Home Journal. "The Depression spurred homemakers to stretch their ingredients as far as possible, and the introduction of lime-flavored Jell-O in the early 1930s gave the salad trend a major boost. Entire cookbooks were devoted to lime Jell-O.

Check out this Vintage Jell-O Salads Pinterest board with the description: "Apparently, in the past, you could throw anything in a container, pour some jello over it, let it cool, and voila! Salad!"

Edna did not serve the "moulded salad" she made for supper. That, the angel food cakes and the chocolate cake must have been for Sunday's reception. But the supper menu was pretty robust. She must have spent a good portion of this day in 1936 working in her kitchen.