Who makes the psst brand
This was two years after President Richard Nixon resigned, and the Watergate scandal was still fresh in Americans' minds. From this, fluffy, jiggly new desserts - called "delights" and, later, "salads" - took shape in America's kitchens.īut the particular mix of ingredients that became the standard Watergate salad likely originated with the Jell-O brand, which introduced a line of pistachio pudding mix in 1976. Instant gelatin allowed for marshmallows, gelatin molds and what Benjamin calls "other fun foods that you would take to picnics or that you would give for desserts" to be made at home with far less effort than before. "It goes all the way back to the turn of century when you had a remarkable thing happen: instant gelatin," says Susan Benjamin of Harpers Ferry, W.V., a historian of sugar and sweets and founder of True Treats Historic Candy.
Its origins date to long before the plans for the Watergate complex were even drafted. It's a story of political scandal, corporate marketing and the ever-changing idea of luxury. So what was the Watergate salad, who invented it, and how did it get its name? We investigated and found a cloudy history that's about much more than food. But now it's very hard to find," Fessenden says. "I've lived here 30 years and I remember when I first moved here you could find Watergate salad offered in many different places - delis, supermarkets, probably at the Watergate Hotel, I'm not sure. That prompted listener Martha Fessenden of Northwest Washington to write to WAMU's What's With Washington and ask, "Why can you no longer buy Watergate salad in D.C.?" The dish has largely vanished like 18 minutes of audio tape. You'd be forgiven for not knowing what a Watergate salad is. 2: How did the Watergate get its name? No. 1: Who ordered the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters? No. "There are three enduring mysteries of the Watergate," says Joseph Rodota, author of The Watergate: Inside America's Most Infamous Address. Except unlike the Waldorf salad or Parker House roll, the Watergate salad wasn't invented at the hotel whose name it bears. And D.C.'s most famous hotel has its own eponymous treat: the Watergate salad. Boston's Parker House hotel is home of the Parker House roll. New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel gave us the Waldorf salad. A combination of pistachio pudding mix, canned pineapple, whipped cream and chopped nuts, the salad is the shade of a Shamrock Shake.
We may think of salads as leafy and green, but the Watergate salad is only the latter.