Wednesday, 14 November 2012
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Seven Layer Jello: A Thanksgiving Tradition
Thanksgiving is all about tradition.
Most families have dishes that they always prepare every year, whether it be a special cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, or something more exotic. Every year, my family goes to a huge party held by my dad's transplant friends, relocated from Hawaii to California. It's essentially a giant pot luck with dishes varying from spam musubi to the standard turkey and gravy.
As you can imagine, this leads to a number of interesting dishes! But the one dish that we made together (before I moved away from home) each year was seven layer jello.
Not very festive, right? Wrong! In my opinion, at least. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for your friends and family - and I think that seven layer jello is an elegant way to show you care.
After all, it's a perfect food metaphor: it's time intensive, embodies a delicate balance that takes rhythm, patience, and results in a flexible jello tower, melded together by a common bond. Seven layer jello is something that's built up over hours, one layer at a time. It's not something you just throw in the oven and forget about. All of this lends to food that is cultivated and cared for, a precious investment - just how any relationship with family and friends should be.
Am I over thinking this? Yeah. But that's what I do. Anyway, the recipe for my family's seven layer jello! It's taken from the Favorite Island Cookery Book III.
Seven Layer Jello or Rainbow Finger Gelatin
Ingredients:- 4 boxes (3 oz) flavored gelatin (lime, lemon, orange, and strawberry)
- 6 envelopes unflavored Knox gelatin
- 1 can (14oz) condensed milk
Directions:
- For gelatin mixture: Mix each box of flavored gelatin separately with 1 envelope unflavored gelatin and 1 cup of hot water. Pour one flavored gelatin mixture into a 9x13 inch pan and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- For mile mixture: Dissolve 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin in ¼ cup cold water, then add ¾ cup hot water. In another bowl, combine 1 can condensed milk and 1 cup boiling water. Combine both mixtures and cool. Divide into three parts.
- For gelatin layer: Pour one part milk mixture over first layer of gelatin. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Pour on another flavored gelatin mixture, alternate with milk mixture, refrigerate for 15 minutes for each layer, ending with flavored gelatin. Example: lime, milk lemon, milk, orange, milk and strawberry.
photo credit goes to my dad!
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Comments (13)
Growing up, my family didn't have traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinners. Each year it was different, some years we did have turkey. But, the main course of choice for the holidays, before red meat was such a taboo source of protein, my grandpa made glorious beef rib roasts basted with red wine--my favorite part was the ribs that were simmered in the juices the next day. When I got married and started cooking my own Thanksgiving dinner, I stuck with generally the same menu for the last 4 years. I like to think of it as building my own traditions from here on out. (After 4 years, it can be called a tradition, right?)
Thanks for reminding me of fond memories of family gatherings at my mom's aunt's house. She used to make 7 layer jell-o, grilled short ribs and macaroni salad for dinner. I haven't had it in years, maybe I will make some this Christmas. The jell-o is time consuming, but it is simple to make. I've also seen people make the flavored layers in small containers and cubed them up, then combined in a larger dish with the milk mixture added to hold it all together--known as Broken Glass Jell-O.
Nice! I remember doing this without the milk layers. You've reminded me about this and so, I think, we'll be doing this for the 'big' day of food!
ooo i love it, i'm going to try it.
I've seen a recipe similar to this years ago. It looks good.
We make this too, but the white stripes include sour cream and sugar. I imagine it has the same effect as the condensed milk and Knox!!! :)
Oooohh I want to try it! That looks awesome. But I won't steal your tradition...maybe for Christmas
That is cool. And gelatin is incredibly healthy. Maybe I will make a honey-sweetened version of this.
My mother always made an orange jello salad for Thanksgiving because it was a color of the season. Her salad included pineapple tidbits, shredded carrots, and sliced green olives. (sweet and savory gotta love that!)
I continued the tradition and now my adult children always ask for it specifically. Sadly their little ones have not yet seen the beauty of this dish. lol Maybe in time.
I'm thinking the little ones would love this jello you show here, just not sure I want to commit to the time it would take. Refrigerator space is always at a limit so maybe my orange salad will still be "the one" this year. Thanks for sharing this. I will try it maybe at Christmas. The colors are fantastic for that.
@babybug329@xanga - 4 years is definitely a tradition! :) Mmm, broken glass jello!
@wickedgood@xanga - yes yes! Do it :)
@WhiteHotKM@xanga - Ooh, that's a good idea.
@Manic_Butterflies@xanga - Nah, go ahead! That's why I shared it!
@WaitingToShrug@xanga - Have you used honey to sweeten gelatin before? That's never occurred to me, but sounds like it could be really good!
@thirtythousanddays@xanga - That sounds very similar to how our 7layer jello was popularized. Definitely do try it! It's time consuming, but I remember having so much fun peeling apart the layers as a kid (my poor dad's hard work...haha)
My grandpa has made this for years! I always thought it was his own recipe, lol.
I love layered jello! Has your dad ever experimented to try and see how many layers he could actually make though? That could be interesting... :D
@xsimplepleasuresx@xanga - I was under the same impression with this one when I was younger. Hah!
@SarahB - oh my god. THE POSSIBILITIES. Honestly, we mostly stop at seven because we either run out of colors or patience haha.
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