A Midwest Watergate

I grew up eating "pistachio fluff," a blend of pistachio pudding, whipped cream, pineapple, marshmallows, and crushed pistachio nuts (aka Watergate salad), at all kinds of family potlucks and picnics. For me, it's got all of that childhood nostalgia that bologna or circus cookies have. It was among my favorites as a kid because it contains copious amounts of whipped cream, which is officially my favorite food.

So I was a little shocked when I learned that gerg had never even heard of it before this weekend.

Am I alone? Did other people eat this weird, somewhat disturbing, but totally tasty concoction growing up?

My childhood passion for pistachio-based creaminess has been known to entice adulthood consumption of: Toucan Custard's Pistachio Pecan custard, Baskin Robbin's Pistachio Almond ice cream, Ben & Jerry's Pistachio Pistachio, and plain ol' pistachio pudding pie.




http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--3509/pistachio-salad.asp


[where: 55406]

7 comments:

Derek said...

The picture looks vaguely familiar; I probably had it at one point during my Wisconsin upbringing. But had you asked the question without the accompanying picture, I would have been stumped.

Reetsyburger said...

DBR - I know they sell it at the Byerly's deli if you had a desire to try it....

Alexis said...

I made JELL-O brand pistachio pudding a few times growing up, but don't remember ever trying this. There are no Lutherans or Scandanavians in my family though, and this seems like church basement food.

Reetsyburger said...

Alexis - My family was neither Lutheran nor Scandanavian, but there always seemed to be a reason to get together in someone's basement with slow cookers and card games.

Alexis said...

Maybe the McKinnises were shut-ins.

Ranty said...

I grew up with the eerily similar Taffy Apple Salad: (Don't ask me where this name came from - it's completely random and strange)

http://tinyurl.com/2z5yh4

Perhaps it's the Illinois variation?

The GS had never tasted it before a recent party (whose theme was old-school crock pot dishes and salads,) and he said it was gross.

Ah well. I ate most of it myself... out of nostalgia, of course. :-)

Reetsyburger said...

alexis - shut-ins with awesome sneakers and mix tapes!

ranty - I've had that, and it's awesome and whipped-cream-arific!