Watergate salad facts for kids
 |
|
| Alternative names | Pistachio Delight, Shut The Gate Salad, Green Goop, Green Goddess, Green Fluff, Green Stuff |
|---|---|
| Type | Dessert |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | Midwestern United States |
| Main ingredients | Pistachio pudding, canned pineapple, Cool Whip, marshmallows |
Watergate salad is a fun and easy-to-make dessert or side dish. It's also known by many other names like Pistachio Delight or Green Fluff. This sweet treat is made from pistachio pudding, canned pineapple, whipped topping, crushed pecans, and marshmallows.
It's super quick to prepare! You just mix all the ingredients together. Then, you can chill it in the fridge before eating. This salad is very popular in the Upper Midwest region of the U.S. It's often found at potlucks, which are parties where everyone brings a dish to share.
Watergate salad is a bit like another fruit salad called ambrosia salad. Both often include pineapple, marshmallows, whipped topping, and nuts.
Contents
What's in Watergate Salad?
Watergate salad usually has a few main ingredients. These include instant pistachio pudding mix, which gives it its green color. It also has canned pineapple, often crushed. A creamy whipped topping, like Cool Whip, is mixed in. Small marshmallows and crushed pecans are also common additions.
Sometimes, people change the recipe a little. Instead of just pineapple, they might add other canned fruits. These could be fruit cocktail or mandarin oranges. There are many ways to make this salad your own!
How Did It Get Its Name?
The exact reason why this salad is called "Watergate salad" is a bit of a mystery! The company General Foods (now part of Kraft Heinz) first shared the recipe. They used their own products: Jell-O pistachio pudding and Cool Whip.
Kraft first called the recipe "Pistachio Pineapple Delight." But people started asking for it by the name "Watergate Salad." Kraft says they don't know exactly why. One story says a food editor in Chicago renamed it. She might have done this to make the recipe more interesting when she printed it. But no one has found that exact article or editor.
The Watergate Scandal Connection
Some people think the name came from the Watergate scandal. This was a big political event in the United States during the 1970s. The salad became very popular around that time.
Another idea is that a chef at the Watergate Hotel invented it. The hotel was part of the Watergate complex, which was famous during the scandal. However, this story isn't proven.
A "Nutty" Explanation
Some writers have suggested the name is a joke. They say it's like "Watergate Cake," which also became popular then. The cake had a "cover-up" icing and was "full of nuts." The salad is also "full of nuts" (pecans). This was a playful way to connect food to the scandal. Other recipes at the time also had funny, scandal-related names.
An Older, Similar Recipe
Did you know a very similar recipe existed long before the Watergate scandal? In 1922, a famous person named Helen Keller wrote about a recipe. It had canned pineapple, nuts, marshmallows, and whipped cream. She called it "Golden Gate Salad" because she first ate it in California. Similar fruit salads were popular even in the 1910s.
See also
In Spanish: Ensalada Watergate para niños
