Since St. Patrick’s Day is rapidly approaching, I thought I would test out some green gelatin.
This is Lime Rice Mold!
AuthorRetroRuthFrom Unusual Old World and American Recipes, 1972
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Dissolve the packages of gelatin in 2 cups of hot water. Cool and pour into mold. Chill until firm
Chill together pineapple, marshmallows and rice.
Dissolve the second package of gelatin in boiling water. Chill until partially set. Whip gelatin. Fold in whipped cream and other chilled ingredients. Pour into mold and refrigerate until set.
Ingredients
Directions
Dissolve the packages of gelatin in 2 cups of hot water. Cool and pour into mold. Chill until firm
Chill together pineapple, marshmallows and rice.
Dissolve the second package of gelatin in boiling water. Chill until partially set. Whip gelatin. Fold in whipped cream and other chilled ingredients. Pour into mold and refrigerate until set.
Notes
This recipe is from the fantastic Unusual Old World and American Recipes, from the fine people at Nordic Ware, and published in 1972.
Despite the name, and the fact that it contains a recipe for Fish Surprise Sticks, there are actually quite a few excellent recipes to use with your bundt pan in this pamphlet. The classic Tunnel of Fudge, the White House Fruit Cake, 7-UP Pound cake, and many other greats. It also pretty easy to find, I come across it quite frequently at thrifts and antique shops. Much of it is taken up with specialized recipes that are specific to a certain pan or gelatin mold they sold in the 1970’s, but these can be easily adapted to just about any pan. So I would consider this worth picking up if you come across it!
Whipped gelatin! I did it very easily in my stand mixer.
So, here is where I ran into some trouble. You’ve probably noticed how the mold is falling apart in the lead photo. It’s because if you do not use A LOT of cooking spray in a silicone mold, gelatin will stick to it. Pretty badly. I had to peel it out with my fingers in spots where it just bonded to the silicone. It turns out I didn’t get the cooking spray into all the points of the swirl, and so doomed myself.
But the whipped gelatin part with the added whipped cream slid out perfectly. Absolutely perfectly. So, I would recommend using a silicone mold for creamy textured gelatin molds, but not for plain gelatin unless you are really confident in your ability to completely coat the inside of your mold with cooking spray.
Sniff. Such a tragic fail.
But it still tasted the same either way, so here we go.
“There’s something wrong with this, isn’t there?”
“Probably. There’s something wrong with almost every gelatin I’ve ever made.”
“That’s…not coconut. Is it.”
“No, that would be rice.”
“Did you even cook it? It’s crunchy!”
The Verdict: Crunchy
Despite the silicone mold debacle, the rice was the real downfall of this gelatin. Overall it was pretty tasty, except for the chewy texture from the rice. At first it wasn’t so bad, when you took a bite the rice balanced out the sweetness of the gelatin and gave it an interesting texture. It almost tasted like coconut. But then you would chew for longer and all the soft, melting parts of the gelatin would be gone and all you would be left with was a mouthful of plain rice. Rice that you still need to chew for a while to be able to swallow it. This texture difference made it almost seem like the rice was chewier than it really was. I feel like the rice should have been cooked for longer so would dissolve easier in your mouth. Otherwise, this would be perfectly fine without the rice, so feel free to leave it out. Or even substitute coconut for the rice. Or, if you really enjoy chewing on rice for a long time, then you can make it just as it is.
Did you adjust the cooking time upwards? Silicone molds don’t conduct heat as well as metal ones, and that may be why the rice was crunchy– it was undercooked. (Then again, it sounds like if you’re going to do more jello mold rings, you might want to invest in a nice metal pan anyway…)
Hmm. I tried a 1950s jelly recipe recently (with pineapple and evaporated milk) and really liked it, but that didn’t have anything as bonkers as rice in it. Perhaps it would be nicer if you cooked the rice in sweetened milk, to give it a rice pudding flavour? But possibly not…
Have a similar recipe using cottage cheese instead of rice. Texture/mouth feel would be more what is expected than when rice or even coconut is added.
Alas, Jell-O is a meat product. No-no for vegetarians.
I can’t really say this was good as I have no intention of eating it or making it. It reminds me of my Mom’s “congealed salad” (no fancy names for my Mom), which is a blend of lime Jell-O, cottage cheese, Cool Whip, pineapple, and pecans. Sound mid-century enough?
I just wanted to say I only found your site recently and LOVE it! Also, your husband is a brave man!
Thank you (and him) for keeping me and my 12-year-old daughter in stitches since I stumbled on to your site.
Can’t say I’m sold on the lime gelatin part, but I do like the idea of a rice mold!
First read through it is no. Then I started thinking. I like Jello and I like rice pudding. Sub part of the rice with coconut and a few raisins or the excess currants from the stollen.
The more this site reminds me of the odd ball stuff we ate back then the more I am thankful that Saint Julia came along. I grew up on this stuff. Some of it gives me flash backs.
The rice was cooked before being incorporated into the gelatin…which then goes in the fridge…nothing gets cooked in the silicon mould.
I’m thinking of trying this for a community dinner soon. Since it isn’t overly sweet this strikes me as one of those indefinable recipes served as simply “salad” in the early/mid Twentieth. There is a similar recipe in my 1965 Settlement Cook Book BTW. Question: is the cream whipped or unwhipped when added to the rice? Sweetened whipped is my guess.
Whipped and unsweetened is what I added. I figured there was enough sugar in the gelatin! 🙂
Do you think that warming the mold for a short time (by immersing it in hot water) would have made it come out more smoothly?
This seems like one of those weird things that someone thought sounded good, but, in practice, it’s just really pretty terrible.
That’s good thinking! I did try it (that’s usually the way I unmold gelatins), but this was seriously bonded to the mold. It was unreal.
My mom made a jello cream cheese and rice any flavor of jello in the late sixties, I want to make it.