Anyhow, the De Luxe Cheese Mold is deceptively not that cheesy. It is mostly fruit flavoring in the form of canned pineapple and sherbet with a sprinkle of cottage cheese included for filling power, a savory contrast, and so that General Foods could class this recipe as a "Two-Way Salad." If we are being totally honest, though, this is a fruit salad-type dessert.
Tragically, there is seemingly not a single pint of orange sherbet in a 100-mile radius of where I live, so I used lime sherbet. To replace the Orange-Pineapple Jell-O, I used one cup of orange juice in place of the boiling water, the syrup from the canned pineapple, and unflavored gelatin. I also used separate cottage cheese and pineapple, since a mixture of the two also does not seem to be available in my area. So I ended up with a mixed citrus gelatin salad. Other than those changes, though, I made the recipe as written.
When it was done, I ended up with a one-quart mold of gelatin plus an extra quarter cup. I used my nice fish mold for it to see how well it would conform to its shape, and I was pleasantly surprised by this relatively chunky recipe.
I was terrified that, considering the mixture of lime sherbet and orange juice, the gelatin would turn out an unappetizing beige color, but fortunately the power of food coloring prevailed and it turned out just plain green. In terms of taste, it is very reminiscent of the classic lime Jell-O salad with cottage cheese, pineapple, pecans, and sweetened condensed milk, only sans nuts and more spongy instead of creamy. Even without the additional sugar that actual Jell-O would provide, it was still plenty sweet, too.
In general the taste of the De Luxe Cheese mold was nice. It's fruity and tropical, and the cheese is nice in it, which I wasn't really expecting. I certainly couldn't imagine eating it on lettuce, though. If simply reading the recipe didn't convince you that this recipe is a total cop-out of a salad, I can confirm by having tasted it: it is just a cop-out of a salad. But if you need a somewhat lighter fruity gelatin salad than usual, this will definitely fit the bill.
