This creamy Sea Foam Salad recipe is perfect for the holidays! It combines pears, jello, cream cheese, and fresh whipped cream to make a light and spongey, perfectly-1950s jello side dish. The recipe is straight from my great-grandma Doris, and we've made it at every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter dinner for as long as I can remember!
Open the can of pears and use the lid to drain the liquid into a medium saucepan. Set pears aside.
Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat.
Remove from heat and use a whisk to stir in the package of dry jello powder. Stir constantly until the jello is dissolved.
If you have an immersion blender: add the cream cheese and the pears to the saucepan and blend well until smooth.
If you are using a blender: Add the jello mixture, pears, and cream cheese to your blender and blend until smooth.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. It should take about 1-2 minutes. Do not over beat.
Fold the cream into the blended jello mixture. It's okay if there are a few streaks of cream.
Pour the mixture into a jello mold, bundt pan, 9x13 pan, or a large bowl. If you use a bundt pan or jello mold (or anything you plan to invert), spray the pan with cooking spray before pouring it in.
Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
If you used a mold or bundt pan and need to invert the jello, dip the bottom of the pan into a large bowl of hot water for several seconds before turning it onto your serving plate. This will help loosen the edges. If it doesn't work, you may need to use a knife to loosen the edges (but try the hot water method first)
Notes
*Obviously I didn't think through the title of this recipe before choosing red jello to photograph. But in my family we always called it Sea Foam, even when it was red. Also, my mom tasted this batch that I made and said, what did you add to this? It's different. She found out I used a Cherry jello and she said she always uses strawberry (apparently red=strawberry :) Any kind of jello will taste great.