The Common '50s Jell-O Dish That's No Longer On Menus
Jell-O, that versatile instant gelatin, has been the star of many dishes over the years. With just three ingredients, you can make Christmas Jell-O balls, for instance. Then there's that chewy vintage dessert known as Jell-O cookies, and frozen Jell-O is about as close as you can get to eating stained glass — or is it? There's a throwback dish — commonly made in the 1950s — that isn't as popular or as well known today, but in its time, it was prized for its elegant resemblance to stained glass. Known as Crown Jewel Dessert, the creation features multiple flavors of Jell-O along with whipped cream, resulting in a vibrant compilation that looks very much like bits of colorful glass floating in a creamy foundation.
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The creator of the dish, a person named R.J. Gatti, thought the dessert resembled the beautiful decorative glass and sent the recipe to General Foods Corporation, purveyor of the Jell-O brand, in 1955. Not only was Crown Jewel an attractive dessert, but it required anyone making it to buy multiple packages of Jell-O — definitely a marketing boon for the brand, and General Foods leveraged it as such. It was showcased in magazine ads and made a splash at the 60th birthday celebration honoring the gelatin company.
Crown Jewel Dessert requires two packages of strawberry Jell-O, one package of orange, and one package of lime. The orange, lime, and one of the strawberry packages are made per the box instructions; the second package of strawberry Jell-O is combined with Cool Whip to achieve a light pink color. Once solidified, the first three pans of gelatin are cut into cubes and combined with the partially thickened pink mixture. The creation is refrigerated until solid, then unmolded and topped with additional Cool Whip.
Jell-O salads were once all the rage
Once upon a time, Jell-O salads (loosely defined as any Jell-O dish featuring mix-ins) were hugely popular. The notion of turning Jell-O into a salad creation emerged in the 1930s and held strong for many decades. In addition to sweet, dessert versions of Jell-O salad, savory creations were also popular at one point. Jell-O even created savory gelatin flavors like Seasoned Tomato and Mixed Vegetable, which formed the basis of various bygone recipes.
Savory Jell-O recipes — more like an aspic, really, than a Jell-O dish — included creations like Ring Around the Tuna (canned tuna with cucumber and pimentos in lime Jell-O). Some were a rather confusing amalgamation of sweet and savory, like Cabbage Grapefruit Salad, which called for lime-flavored Jell-O, lemon juice or vinegar, orange, grapefruit, cabbage, and scallions. In the company's ads, home cooks were encouraged to jazz up seafood, chicken, cold cuts, and more with the addition of a savory Jell-O flavor.
At one point, serving Jell-O salad at a dinner party was considered quite refined. The dishes could certainly be made to look impressive, like the Crown Jewel Dessert with its floating cubes of Jell-O "glass." The gelatin could be poured into elaborate molds, perfectly taking on the shapes. Busy, post-World War II homemakers — many of whom had jobs outside the home now — were still expected to feed their families, and Jell-O allowed them to execute impressive culinary creativity fast.
The widespread enthusiasm for Jell-O salads faded by the 1980s, and the dishes became much less common. However, 2025 saw a resurgence of the bygone recipes, and chefs and amateur cooks are beginning to resurrect them.