Whimsical Frozen Fruit Salad

Here is a whimsical frozen fruit salad/dessert which is tasty, satisfying and colorful — just right for a Christmas holiday meal. Today, I am in the mood for making “Frozen Fruit Salad.” It has been years since I’ve made this dessert but my recollection is that the “salad” is a pleasantly delicious combination of fruit and something else. What was it? To make sure I was going in the right direction, I referenced one of my vintage church cookbooks, “Our Swiss Pantry,” which I’ve had for years. And yes, upon opening the cookbook, I found several variations of “Frozen Fruit Salad.”

Let’s not forget about “Old-Fashioned, Home Cooked Dishes to “Wow” at Holiday meals

Sometimes old-fashioned, home cooked recipes the best things. With our busy lifestyles, often we don’t take the time to cook, sit down and eat a family meal together. That changes at holidays, and I like to search out some of these vintage recipes to include in our holiday meals. They can turn an ordinary meal into something special — and without much effort.

To find that “Frozen Fruit Salad” from years past, I went to the original source. I have quite a collection of old church and civic association cookbooks, with recipes contributed by the members. They represent a treasure of homemade dishes. I believe that the families’ best recipes were the ones which were submitted to the cookbook committee — you can find many great ideas in these vintage cookbooks.

Plus, I am always looking for ways to include fruit in our meals as well as to lighten up on desserts just a bit. This dessert is soothing, tasty and not so, so sweet or rich. The colorful dish is perfect for the holidays.

“Our Swiss Pantry” Vintage Cookbook

The “Frozen Fruit Salad” recipe comes from the Mennonite cookbook, “Our Swiss Pantry.” I have included a little about this vintage cookbook at the end of my blog post as well as the Mennonite and Amish farm communities in Berne, Indiana.

How did I get this cookbook? I’m a bit of a “Hoosier” at heart as I attended college in Indiana. My roommate was from Berne, Indiana. I spent many weekends and holidays in Berne, Indiana. It was a second family to me; at some point the cookbook came my way. The cookbook brings back many memories of that Swiss community.

5-Cup Salad

I hit the jackpot with this cookbook in my memory search for frozen fruit “salads.” However, many of the recipes included Jello. I did not recall that Jello — either flavored Jello or unflavored Knox gelatin — was an ingredient my recipe. Finally, I found “5-Cup Salad.” The recipe included fruit (crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges), cream cheese, whipping cream, marshmallows and pecans. Basically, you include one cup of each ingredient. And it was frozen. Yes, this was it!

This recipe was contributed by Esther Neuenschwander. Now, that’s a Swiss name! It is Middle High German and means niuwe ‘new’ + swant ‘land cleared (of forest)’,  It is the habitational name for someone from a place called Neuenschwand, near Langnau, Bern canton, Switzerland.

Recipe Ingredients for “Whimsical Frozen Fruit Salad”

Here are the ingredients for my “Frozen Fruit Salad.” This is a very flexible recipe and you can easily swap out ingredients. I added candied cherries (or maraschino cherries) and omitted the marshmallows — although marshmallows would be a great addition to the salad. And I used purchased Cool Whip topping rather than whipping cream.

Making the Frozen Salad

Mixing up this salad is easy. One “tip” is to make sure that the cream cheese has set out of the refrigerator long enough to warm to room temperature. It needs to be whipped with an electric mixer until it is creamy and fluffy. This is easier to do if the cream cheese is soft. Also, make sure the Cool Whip topping is thawed.

If the walnuts are stale (i.e. — I store mine in the freezer), then toast them to refresh and make them aromatic again. I discovered that my Air Fryer makes this task easy. Place in a single layer in the Air Fryer basket. Toast for three to five minutes at 350 degrees and then chop up to smaller pieces.

The choice of fruit to add to the salad is flexible. This time I included crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges. Plus, I added some of candied cherries. A few chopped marachino cherries could be substituted.

Other additions which could be substituted include chopped, canned peaches, pineapple tidbits, fruit cocktail and fresh fruit such as bananas, seedless grapes and strawberries. And, minature marshmallows would be lovely. Swap pecans for the walnuts.

Drain the fruit in a colander — if using canned fruit — and discard the juices. Don’t need to make this salad watery.

To mix up the salad, beat the cream cheese, using an electric mixer, until it is light and fluffy. I added a little sugar to sweeten the water-packed fruit. Then remove the mixer bowl and fold in the Cool Whip topping using a spatula. Use “lifting” motions to keep the mixture airy. Last, fold in the other ingredients — fruit, nuts and marshmallows (if using).

Pour into an oiled 9″x 9″ casserole dish and level off. Cover and feeze for two hours or overnight. (Actually this dessert was delicious when just chilled — not frozen.)

Let the dessert defrost out of the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour prior to serving, so that you can cut it.

This “Whimsical Frozen Fruit Salad” is delicious. My husband, especially, likes anything with cream cheese. The dessert is smooth and light. The nuts and fruit make a great combination, too. Enjoy!

One of my goals is to eat more home cooked meals and eat less “restaurant” meals. I have no excuses. That means ramping up on fruit and vegetables. Health is important. These vintage cookbooks — such as “Our Swiss Pantry” — with their fascinating histories, provide a wealth of ideas and recipes. It’s “back in time” for me.

Vintage Cookbook, Recipe Source and Indiana Mennonite and Amish Communities

I looked in several of my old, vintage cookbooks to search for the dish which I vaguely remembered from years past. And, I had luck! “Our Swiss Pantry” contains lots of these fruit “salad” recipes which were probably family favorites both at supper meals and covered dish church suppers.

The cookbook was published in 1967 and was compiled by the Women’s Missionary Society of the First Mennonite Church of Berne, Indiana.

The Women’s MIssionary Society was founded in 1887 with a membership of 33 ladies. The goal of this church group was to assist in missionary projects. (Way back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, many of these protestant church denominations had missons in Africa and China. It was an honor to be selected as a missonary. Those individuals intended to spend the rest of their lives in service in the chosen country. The congregations back home supported the mission cause and work.)

Plus, you can see a connection to past Swiss ancestry in the recipes. There are a number of recipes with old German-Swiss slants, such as “Kuchen”, as well as more contemporary recipes.

About Berne, Indiana

Berne, Indiana, is a unique community. It is in the heartland of Indiana farm country and is located in Adams County in the eastern part of the state.

And, what is interesting about Berne is the people who settled there. In the early to mid-1800s, word about the rich Indiana farmland was sent to their families still living in Switzerland. These families were Mennonites and Amish. They came in several migration waves to settle around Berne and farm from a small area in Switzerland.

These two groups — Mennonites and Amish — originally came to this country with a similar anabaptist religion — but different religious leaders. Almost 200 years later, the two groups kept their values of faith, honesty and hard work, but have gone their separate ways. The Amish leep to themselves. They still retain their cultural idenitity and continue to speak a Swiss dialect of low-German. They continue old-order dress, horse and buggies, large families, Swiss customs and continue as farmers. Interestingly, they are not related to the Pennsylvania Amish and do not interact or inter-marry with them. The Pensylvania Dutch Amish are of German and Swiss descent — arriving in this country in the 1700s – about 100 years prior to the Berne Amish.

The Berne Mennonite community came to this country in 1852. Over the years, they have adopted contemporary customs, dress, automobiles and the English language. They have assimilated into the modern world but still keep strong religious values.

These two religious orders, which arrived here from Europe in several waves to Indiana, are a facinating part of the culture of this country. The fact that the Amish keep to themselves has resulted in interesting genetic studies. For example, a gene belonging to a particular Swiss immigrant family has been studied in relation to the longevity of this family. Well, that’s digressing. Back to recipes….

Enjoy healthy holidays this year!