The Joys of Jell-O Recipe #88: Orange Ginger Whip

Howdy, Jigglers! I decided to make the Orange Ginger Whip upon randomly turning to a page in JOJ and discovering how few ingredients this recipe called for. For the price of a few oranges and some ginger ale, you can make a bold whipped Jell-O recipe!

 

This recipe is pretty easy to make: heat gelatin in ginger ale, add orange juice, chill slightly, and then whip to a bubbly, fluffy state with a hand mixer. You then pour it into a mold and let set completely before unmolding.

 

I changed just one part of this recipe: instead of orange Jell-O, I used a combination of unflavored gelatin and orange zest to flavor the Orange Ginger Whip. My recommendation is to use the zest of one orange, being careful not to include any pith, which imparts a bitter flavor, and to add a tablespoon of sugar to the ginger ale as it heats. I did not do this and ended up needing to sweeten the whip with some drizzled honey (which is not bad, if you prefer to do it that way). If you would rather top this mold with whipped cream, as mentioned in the recipe, I would suggest you include a fair amount of powdered sugar in the cream.

 

I like how this mold is whipped but doesn't contain cream. Normally the whipped recipes contain some kind of dairy, but this one has the bubbles incorporated without being creamy, and that has a novel effect. You don't taste much of the ginger ale, so it mostly just tastes like oranges, but that's a fine way to taste.

 

A note for those used to whipping creamy Jell-O: this will probably not whip up to the same volume as you are accustomed to. That's okay. It will still be fluffy. Just whip it as much as you can and don't be anxious about it like I was.

Now, the most mysterious part of this recipe is the claim that it has "many uses." I have no earthly idea of what those uses could be. This recipe is in the Two-Way Salads part of the book, though it seems really out of place there. It is just a fruity dessert, and there aren't even any savory-leaning garnishes mentioned. I don't think this would work atop salad greens, but I can't think of many uses it would have in the confectionery world either. Perhaps you could coat small cakes in it instead of an icing (a la petit fours) or use it as a filling in between layers of angel food cake or something, but other than that I am seriously struggling to think of any use this could have outside of just eating it by itself. We might always have to wonder what General Foods was referring to there.

Despite the unsolved case of its recipe's description, Orange Ginger Whip is an easy, cheap, and fine-tasting Jell-O recipe that would be a welcome addition at any spring or summer gathering for its unique texture and burst of citrus flavor. Just don't kid yourself and try to serve it as an actual salad, as General Foods implies you can. It has soda in it, after all.