No doubt you’ve heard of the infamous Jell-O salad recipes popular around the 1950s. Featuring ingredients like tuna, tomato juice, and cottage cheese in addition to flavors more palatable to modern tastes like fruit and whipped cream, these vintage recipes have been making a comeback. Not, perhaps, because anyone actually wants to eat them, but because they’re an excellent conversation piece on social media. But Jell-O wasn’t the only company responsible for some questionable recipes back in the day. Hellman’s Mayonnaise got in on the action with eye-catching recipe advertorials, in addition to their own branded cookbooks.
One of these interesting recipes is for Cranberry Candle Salad (“crandles” was right there, but sadly, Hellman’s didn’t include this epic portmanteau in their ad). Before you start imagining diced candles on a bed of arugula or something equally horrifying, don’t worry, it’s not quite that bad. Basically, the idea is to make a cranberry gelatin salad (flavored with Hellman’s, naturally), and let it set in cleaned-out fruit juice cans. Once you’ve un-molded the salads, which are now a nice, cylindrical shape, you stick part of a birthday candle into the top. Light this, and the salad itself becomes the candle.
According to the ad, the smoothness of the mayo complements the tartness of the cranberries perfectly, creating an appetizing and eye-catching dish sure to impress. The recipe makes six candles, so can be served as your salad course.
Other edible candles
In a world where Hellman’s has advocated for putting their “Real Mayonnaise” in coffee, cakes, eggnog, and peanut butter sandwiches, its cranberry candle salad honestly doesn’t sound bad. Beyond cranberry juice and mayonnaise, it’s flavored with fruit-flavored gelatin, lemon juice, diced apples or oranges, and walnuts. However, it may still be a difficult concept for modern cooks to get behind.
If you like the idea of a flaming side dish, a more modern take that went viral is the butter candle. These can be made sweet or savory. Cabot Creamery has a recipe for a garlic butter candle flavored with herbs like rosemary. But you could also make a cinnamon-and-sugar version for a sweeter accompaniment. The idea is to mix up a flavored butter concoction, transfer it into a paper cup holding a food-safe wick, and let it solidify. The un-molded candle can be served along with your bread course. The heat from the flame will melt the butter, turning it into a dippable delight. Dramatic and delicious!
Of course, you could always opt for Betty Crocker’s giggle-inducing Candle Salad. It isn’t on fire, but it will still spark conversation. Stick half a banana into a pineapple ring on a bed of lettuce, and top it with a cherry. Add “drips” with mayo or whipped cream. It may sound better than the Hellman’s candle salad — but it looks far less like a candle!
