Lime Jello Salad

This creamy vintage lime Jello salad has bright flavor and is fun to serve.  Our family lovingly refers to it as green Jello salad and it is coming to you from my great-grandma’s recipe box.

This pineapple lime jello salad is a vintage favorite recipe.  It is creamy and filled with bits of pineapple.  Of course the lime gelatin holds it all together. 

Make it in a big dish and serve it by the spoonful or chill it in small molds for an extra fun presentation.  My great-grandma loved it and I have a feeling you will too!

It was hard to decide who to give credit to for this recipe.  My great-grandma got it from her mom (my great-great-grandma of dutch apple cake fame).

But my dad and his siblings remember it as something their grandma would make for family gatherings.  Apparently this one was a particular favorite of my uncle Mike.  I can see why, it really is pretty tasty.

It seems as though my great-grandma Rees liked fruit salads with some substance.  A lot of the recipes I have from her and gelatin and fruit or the frozen fruit salad that still makes an appearance at every Rees family holiday.

She isn’t the only one.  My husband’s aunt also shared a cherry and pineapple jello salad that was also delicious!

This is a good mix of lime gelatin made creamy with some cream cheese.  Plus, I love pineapple so that as an add-in is great for me!  Just be sure to use canned pineapple and don’t try to get fancy and use fresh pineapple.

Much like when making the Hawaiian sweet rolls, there is an enzyme in fresh pineapple that doesn’t work well for bread baking or gelatin setting.  The canning process neutralizes the problem.

I thought it would be fun to do it as a mold.  I have these little jello molds that were my great-grandma Schwanke’s.

The first time I tried it did not work at all.  Not to worry though, it was still good stirred up and served that way.

So this time I held my breath and crossed my fingers.  I drained the pineapple pretty well to try to minimize any extra liquid as I assumed that was part of the problem last time.

I also did a couple of servings in ramekins just in case. But guess what… it worked!

The little mold was just begging for some sort of garnish.  I can envision these served on a leaf of lettuce or something, but I didn’t have any. 

But I did have some maraschino cherries and after I put one on there, I knew it was perfect. A dollop of Cool Whip or whipped cream would also be a great way to take this dessert salad to the next level.

Can’t you just picture your great-grandma serving you something like this at a family dinner?  I definitely can.  And I can’t wait to be that grandma too!  Do you have any jello salads in your family?

For another retro looking gem, try grandma’s date nut loaves. They are baked in cans making them look really cool and they are perfectly giftable that way as well!

More Fun Jello Recipes

If you really like trying different vintage recipes and creamy Jello salads, you can try my friend Jennifer’s grandma’s green jello salad. It features small curd cottage cheese and pineapple for a different version of this recipe.

Or try making lime jello fudge for a different kind of treat. It is another fun retro recipe that you are sure to love.

Red white and blue stained glass Jello is perfect for patriotic summer holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. However you can mix and match the colors to make it perfect for any holiday or event.

Or try cherry pretzel salad. It has a salty pretzel base, creamy cream cheese layer and cherry jello topping that come together for a fun sweet treat.