Housewife Life

Congealed desserts, political scandals, and summer barbecues. Sounds like unlikely bedfellows, but say “Watergate Salad” and all these things come to mind.

In this dish, which even by the loosest definitions should never really be classified as a salad, an instant pistachio pudding packet is combined with crushed pineapple, whipped topping, mini marshmallows and chopped pecans. It’s the kind of pleasantly retro and weirdly addicting dessert that you will find at family get together’s and summer barbecues.

Supposedly, the recipe, originally called Pistachio Pineapple Delight, was created in 1975 by Kraft, but renamed after the political scandal by an unknown journalist trying to drum up interest in the recipe.

This salad is known by a few monikers, in case you would like to serve it without getting into a political debate at your next family gathering.  It is also referred to as Green Goddess, Pistachio Delight, or Shut The Gate Salad,  Green Goop, Green Fluff, or Green Stuff. We always referred to it as “The Green Stuff” in my family.

Articles Sited:

• Watergate salad from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Banana bread, the ultimate comfort food. The history of banana bread is slightly murky. There are two popular opinions about this bread’s origins, one that suggests that the modern banana bread recipe was developed in corporate kitchens during the midcentury to promote flour and baking soda products. This theory is backed by the fact there was an influx of banana bread promotion in the 1950s in the form of advertisements. While the other theory is quite simply that banana bread is the ingenious creation of thrifty housewives who were making do with all they had.

According to Wikipedia, “Banana bread first became a standard feature of American cookbooks with the popularization of baking soda and baking powder in the 1930s. It appeared in Pillsbury’s 1933 Balanced Recipes cookbook, and later gained more acceptance with the release of the original Chiquita Banana’s Recipe Book in 1950.”

Chiquita Brand Bananas worked hard to cultivate a strong relationship with consumers early. Chiquita developed entertaining and effective methods of advertising and promotion. In fact, Chiquita was the first produce brand of any kind to advertise to consumers. In 1944 a lively, and perhaps the most successful jingle to date was produced to educate consumers on eating and storing bananas, along with the jingle the iconic “Miss Chiquita” character was introduced.

Later, Chiquita added recipe booklets to their advertisement and consumer education plan.  The release of the original Chiquita Banana’s Recipe Book in 1950, is credited with making banana bread mainstream, but it also offered some creative concoctions for those with an adventurous palate such as ham banana rolls, banana fritters, and banana scallops.

Print Recipe

5 from 6 votes

The Original Chiquita Banana Bread Recipe (1950)

The Original Banana Bread recipe is still just as great today as it was in the 50's. 

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time1 hr 10 mins

Total Time1 hr 25 mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Retro Recipe

Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs slightly beaten
• 1 -3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
• 2 -3/4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe CHIQUITA banana 2 to 3 bananas

Instructions

• Beat shortening until creamy and glossy, or 2 minutes at medium speed on electric mixer. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy after each addition. Add eggs and beat until thick and pale lemon in color. Sift dry ingredients; add alternately with bananas; blend thoroughly after each addition.
• Grease bottom only of a 4-1/2 x 8-1/2 x 3-inch loaf pan. Turn batter into pan. Bake in 350°F oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean and dry.
• Let bread partially cool in pan (20 to 30 minutes) before turning onto rack. Makes 1 full loaf.

Depending on how many over-ripe bananas you have this bread can handle up to 1 & 1/2 cups of mashed bananas, in fact, I prefer it with the larger amount of bananas. If you use really ripe bananas your bread will have plenty of banana flavor, but a little vanilla never hurt anything, You can add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract which perfectly complements all the banana flavors.  Chopped walnuts, or chocolate chips, also make a great addition.