The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #167: Tuna Salad

Howdy, Jigglers! Today I bring you one of the JOJ recipes I was looking forward to the least--a category which is almost entirely populated by s e a f o o d. My husband and I had just gotten back from the grocery store one day last week, and I was unpacking a couple of cans of tuna when I unthinkingly asked my husband to pick out the next Jell-O recipe for me to make. He immediately pointed at the tiny can in my hand and said, "I know there are tuna Jell-O recipes. You've got it, so you have to make it happen."

For some reason my camera was not cooperating with me on photographing both the recipe and the actual salad--please bear with my cell phone photos.

We then flipped through JOJ and found Tuna Salad, which conveniently also required several other ingredients I had on hand, like olives, celery, mayonnaise, and onion. I just had to grab a cucumber and I was ready to go. At this juncture my husband also challenged me to eat the entirety of the tuna salad since there have been a few of these recipes (mostly involving tomatoes) that I have been unable to finish due to gagging too much.

I secretly was okay with the idea of the tuna salad because I recently got a fish-shaped mold for a song and was itching to try it out. There was a bit of an obstacle to overcome, though, which was how to replicate the flavor of Celery Flavor Jell-O, which hasn't been manufactured for half a century. After debating pureeing some celery to make celery juice (too much work!), I decided to replace the salt in the recipe with celery salt and call it a day, which worked out fine. Other than using the celery salt and unflavored gelatin in place of Jell-O (a word to the wise: you can find boxes of the salad Jell-O flavors on eBay, but I would certainly recommend against consuming their contents), I followed the recipe exactly, except I accidentally got a lime instead of a lemon.

The recipe was very simple to make. The only problem was that I was worried about the onion. This is the first Jell-O recipe I have made including onion, and I thought if anything was going to make the salad completely inedible, it would be raw onion bits. So I took it really easy when I was adding the onion to avoid overpowering the other flavors.

 I was pleased with how well the chunky salad molded, though it certainly looked less than appetizing on the whole. Regardless, much to my surprise (and perhaps slightly to my husband's chagrin), this salad is simply delicious! It is refreshing, rather light, and not too fishy. Plus, the gelatin works much better than your typical tuna salad at keeping the vegetables crispy, which it did all week long. The hint of lime even shone through on the palate, while the onion did not. Over all, though, I was flabbergasted by how good the olive slices were in completing the dish. I heartily advise against omitting them, as their brininess contrasts beautifully with the creamy gelatin and the other, milder vegetables.

Clearly I had no trouble finishing off the tuna salad after all! This recipe was shockingly good for what it is, and I don't even care for regular tuna salad. I also believe the De Luxe version of the salad sounds good, though I don't know how well gelatin would keep diced apple fresh. This cookbook sure does love tuna with apples, though.

In short, General Foods actually made a competent seafood Jell-O recipe. I don't know if it was brutal amounts of talent or brutal amounts of luck that did it, but I do know that I would make this again someday in a heartbeat, which is the exact opposite of what I was anticipating with Tuna Salad.