Ambrosia. Nectar of the gods – the ancient Greek gods, that is. I don’t know the nature of their ambrosia, but this Ambrosia is nectar of the mere mortals. I love how the sweet and tangy flavors play off of each other. Eating it is sort of like looking for buried treasure; the treasure being the fresh oranges and pineapple and the toasted pecans. Yum!
As with a number of other recipes here on my blog, this recipe for Ambrosia is inspired by my grandmother. Ambrosia was an absolute must at Easter dinner. It sometimes showed up at Christmas dinner, too.
“The Ambrosia”
My grandmother always referred to ambrosia as “The Ambrosia”, as if it was royalty. Sort of like “all arise for her majesty, the Queen”. It definitely held a place of prominence on the menu. “Reva, are you bringing The Ambrosia or should I make it?” she would ask my mother in her country Southern accent.
For the record, a country Southern accent is quite different from a more refined Southern accent. If you’ve never heard it, you may need translator services for your first encounter. I served as my husband’s translator when he met my grandmother for the first time. Actually, I served as translator for both my husband AND my grandmother. Neither one of them could understand the other one – my husband with his Utah accent and my grandmother with her very country Southern accent. It was comical, and tiring.
To tell you the honest truth, Ambrosia was made two different ways in my family. The first way was a creamy version which contained fresh cut-up oranges and pineapple + coconut + marshmallows + maraschino cherries + toasted pecans + a creamy binder. The second way was simply with fresh cut-up oranges and pineapple + coconut + maraschino cherries.
Both versions were considered to be salads, not desserts. Uncooked fruit = salad. Cooked fruit = dessert. It’s just they we rolled.
I do remember that the creamy version came before the non-creamy version, at least in my family. If I am not mistaken, it was my mother who daringly changed the recipe of “The Ambrosia” in her family. It took guts to change things up. I was too young to remember if it caused a ruckus or not.
Come On, Break it Down Now
My favorite version of ambrosia is the one presented here – the creamy version. I wish that I could definitively say that this is the exact recipe that my grandmother used, but I cannot. It was the kind of recipe that was never written down by my family. I feel confident, however, that I have captured the flavors that I remember from childhood.
I like the whipped cream to be sweet. While it is true that the fruit in this salad is sweet, the oranges and pineapple are also acidic. The acid tames the sweetness of the whipped cream, so I make it sweeter than I might normally do.
The toasted pecans not only add great texture, they also bring a wonderful depth of flavor. Personally, they are my favorite nut, but it could be because I was raised on them. You probably feel that way about the most common nuts at your house. (And I am not talking about your family members; I’m talking about the kinds of nuts that grow on trees.)
As for the marshmallows – they are just plain fun. They are kind of like a sweet bouncy ball for your mouth and they hold up surprisingly well in this salad.
There’s really not much to say about the maraschino cherries and the coconut; they do what they do.
Ambrosia Adolation
Many American families have an ambrosia recipe. How do you make the one your family likes? I know that some recipes use canned fruit and some use fresh fruit. Most of them seem to have marshmallows and maraschino cherries. Some of them use Cool Whip and others use whipped cream or sour cream and some of the more modern ones even use yogurt. I can pretty much guarantee that no one I knew used yogurt. I don’t even know if yogurt was a thing in the south when I was little.
One of the things that I definitely remember of my grandmother’s ‘The Ambrosia’ was that it had real whipped cream and fresh fruit in it. Cool Whip had not yet been invented when I was little.
That’s funny, now that I think about it. Instead of saying, “I am older than dirt”, I can say “I am older than Cool Whip.” That makes me laugh.
If you don’t already have an Ambrosia recipe of your own, then adopt this one! It can be the one you pass down through your family for generations. The one that your grandchildren and their grandchildren will look back on fondly and write about in a blog or a memoir or maybe on an index card. 🙂
PS – take a look at the links in the “Notes” section of the recipe. There are several links that might interest you.
Ambrosia
Ingredients
- 5 large navel oranges, peeled and sectioned (see Notes)
- 1 whole fresh, pineapple, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 3 cups)
- 1/2 cup halved maraschino cherries, well drained
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (see Notes)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3-4 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
- There should be a total of approximately 6 cups of prepared citrus fruit. Place a strainer over a medium-sized bowl. Pour the fruit into the strainer and allow the juice to drain off for 20-30 minutes.
- Place the drained oranges and pineapple in a large bowl. Add the coconut, maraschino cherries and pecans. Toss gently.
- In a mixing bowl, with a hand mixer, beat the heavy whipping cream just until it barely starts to thicken. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. The whipped cream will stay peaked when the beaters are lifted. (Don't overwhip - we are not making butter.)
- Add the sour cream and whisk to combine. Fold the cream mixture together with the fruit mixture. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Can be refrigerated over night. Stire gently before serving.
Notes
You may also like:
Watergate Salad
Strawberry, Banana, Pineapple Jello Salad
Watermelon Fruit Salad with Honey-Mint Vinaigrette
I remember the first time I had Ambrosia. It was at a cookout at my grandparent’s house-my aunt made it and my Mom and I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Of course Mom had to have the recipe-and was bowled over at what was in it. Canned pineapple, canned Mandarin oranges, marshmallows and sour cream—no measuring, just eyeball the amount..that was it. Suffice it to say she made it a LOT after that gathering and she and I loved it. I continued the tradition and got my daughter hooked on the stuff too. Over the years I snuck in coconut and maraschino cherries now and then. My husband isn’t a fan because of the pineapple-he and that fruit don’t see eye to eye.
I do remember one comical incident regarding Ambrosia-comical now, not when it happened. We hosted a family get together for Bob’s family here and since my mother in law is a molded Jell-o salad fan, I found a recipe for a Raspberry Salad Ring and the center was filled with Ambrosia. Well that was heaven on a plate for me. I made it-it looked glorious, and was enjoyed by some of the guests. I couldn’t wait to have a taste later on that night. There was about half of it left when the shindig was over. People were leaving so we walked them out and said our good-byes-and didn’t linger long. Came back to pick up the leftovers and found our Lab/Golden Retriever had managed to climb up on a chair, then onto the table (and the dog was a 50 pounder-she was no petite lap dpg!) and was happily chowing down all the Ambrosia from the center of the ring of Jell-o. The Lab/Shepherd was apparently the lookout-and doing a really bad job at it-he kinda hung her out to dry. Did she eat the Jell-o? Nnnnnoooooooo-apparently it wasn’t to her liking. She did however LOVE the Ambrosia. That dog moved at warp speed when there was food on the table and no one was looking-the stories I could tell. OK the bright side is at least the company was GONE when she pulled that stunt. Sigh…….
I haven’t made Ambrosia for eons….ya got me hankerin’ for it now! 🙂
Carol, I can totally relate to your dog story. Our golden is the very same way. I think that any dog with any part of golden retriever in it has the “eat everything in site” gene. I hadn’t thought about it until just now, but our golden, Lexi, doesn’t eat jello, either. It is the only thing that the grandkids drop on the floor that she doesn’t clean up for us. Other than that, she is a tyrrant/nuisance when it comes to people food.