Frozen salads are made by freezing ingredients in a mold and serving them in glassware or in slices, often over a leaf oflettuce. Until the 1920s in America, frozen salads were consumed by the few who could afford expensive restaurant visits or large homerefrigeration systems. As electricrefrigerators made freezing at home more accessible, the dish gained popularity, helped by its convenience and enclosed presentation, which was valued in an era when the salad was perceived to be a mess in need of taming. A range of frozen salads were eaten containing meats, fruits or vegetables, often with pantry staples such as cream and mayonnaise. Popular examples included frozenginger ale and pear salads, frozen tomato salads, and frozen cheese salads. Frozenfruit salads continue to be eaten today.
Frozen salads, a combination of ingredients frozen in a tray and served in slices,[1] gained popularity in 1920s America asdomestic freezing technology became widely available for the first time.[2] Up until this point, frozen salads had existed, but they were only readily available to those who could afford and host large salt and ice freezers and to those who could visit the expensive hotels and restaurants that would serve them.[3] As households purchased electric freezers for their improvements overiceboxes which could not freeze or maintain cool temperatures consistently,[2] the salads were seen as attractive as a result of their prior exclusivity.[3]
Frozen salads were also valued for the ways they contained foods, presenting them in a controlled manner, restrained fully in their geometric receptacles.[3] This accorded with the values of the era as presented byhome economists, who abhorred mess and conceived of the salad as necessary for nutrients but in need of containment through presentation and ideally sweetening. The salad could be brought further under control by choosing canned produce over fresh, which was perceived as more hygienic and unable to be contaminated by dirt.[4] As dishes grew less recognizable as salads,lettuce leaves were employed to justify the categorization.[5]
As they became eaten more often in the home, frozen salads remained available for purchase.Lunch counters andsoda fountains served frozen salads in single portions for dine-in patrons, and sold larger portions to be taken home. By 1937, a quart of frozen salad could be purchased for $1 (equivalent to $22 in 2024).[6][7]
Refrigerator companies and others published cookbooks with recipes for frozen salads. Among these, frozenfruit salads and frozen cheese salads were among the most popular,[1][8] sometimes appearing combined with the addition ofAmerican cheese or cream cheese to frozen fruit salad recipes. One version of the frozen cheese salad was published in a 1924 Seattle compilation cookbook as "Fruit and Flower Mission Frozen Cheese Salad":[8]
Mix the cream cheese with the mayonnaise and whipped cream. Stir in the [jarred]pimientos, peppers, and pecans. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika. Pack into a mold (note: individual serving molds are fun) and freeze until firm. Dip the mold in warm water and turn out on a platter. Serve with mayonnaise.
Other popular frozen salads of the era included aginger ale and pear salad,[1] as well as ones of meat—chicken, salmon, tuna, and crabmeat—and vegetables, such as asparagus and celery. Within such savory versions, cream and mayonnaise were often present. A frozen tomato-based salad popular at the time was named tomato frappé, loosely related to the concept of a salad. Making it typically involved a process of cooking tomatoes and onions and flavorings such as bay leaves, before straining and then freezing the ingredients.[8] Frozen tomato salads remained popular in the following decades: in 1942 socialiteWallis Simpson included a recipe for it as a component of a"typical southern" dinner,[9] and later in the decade the author and poetJulia Cooley Altrocchi listed it as an element in a menu for a "Savory and Exotic Italian Formal Dinner".[10] The association with Southern United States cooking could be seen again in 1950, whenChicago and Southern Air Lines's food and beverage director described a "plantation frozen tomato salad" as among the airline's most popular dishes.[11][a]
Frozen fruit salads were especially appealing in households withoutdomestic workers who wanted to entertain guests. These salads were prepared by mixing canned fruits such as pineapples, apricots, pears, peaches andmaraschino cherries with whipped cream and mayonnaise and freezing them in hemispheric, rectangular, or cubic containers. At dinner, they could be portioned onto lettuce leaves or into glassware for an entrée, salad, or dessert.[1][13] One method of serving is recounted in a 1937 article in theIce Cream Trade Journal, which describes the salads as popular atbridge parties, where they were served on lettuce, often topped with mayonnaise alongside crackers and sandwiches.[6]
In 1922, frozen fruit salad entered popular awareness in the Philippines after "FrozenPampanga Fruit Salad" was described inCulinary Arts of the Tropics, a publication assembled by the wives of American colonial officials. From this point, frozen fruit salads appeared in marketing and home economics classes, impressing upon youngFilipinos the belief that America was free of scarcity, unlike their home where the cost of freezers, canned fruit, and condensed milk made frozen fruit salads inaccessible.[14] In America during the 1950s, fruit cocktail from a can gained popularity in frozen fruit salads.[15] Frozen fruit salads continue to be eaten today in the US.[8] In the Philippines, the dessertBuko salad is sometimes served frozen, made with canned fruit cocktail,macapuno strings orgrated coconut,nata de coco,palm fruit, cream and sweetenedcondensed milk.[16]
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![1915 Frozen Fruit Salad, served on a lettuce leaf. The method of preparation is described in the footnotes:[b]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.m.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aFrozen_Fruit_Salad_(1915).png)
