FOOD NEWS
The Nutty Dessert Salad Named After A Scandal
By Nick Johnson
Watergate salad, named after the Watergate scandal, has two primary ingredients: pistachio pudding and whipped cream, which is then mixed with canned crushed pineapple, marshmallows, and chopped nuts. For a variation, TikTok user @bdylanhollis used walnut and mini marshmallows in his own Watergate salad version, and you can also substitute whipped cream with regular cream.
It's difficult to pinpoint the precise origins of the Watergate salad, but according to Mental Floss, the first recipes popped up in newspapers around 1974, shortly after Royal Desserts’ initial release of their pistachio pudding mix and around the conclusion of the Watergate scandal. As for the name, it could refer to the fact that Watergate salad, like the White House at the time, is full of nuts.
However, Kraft Heinz subsidiary site My Food and Family claims that the history of Watergate salad is inextricably linked to Jell-O’s recipe for Pineapple Pistachio Delight that was printed on the boxes in 1985. It had the same ingredients as the modern-day Watergate salad, excluding the marshmallows, and Jell-O officially named it the Watergate salad in 1993 when they added the marshmallows.