Frog Eye Salad
2 min read
Here we are:
Frog eye salad is probably a sweet lie: of course not made of frog eyes and it isn’t even your normal lettuce-based salad. This sweet, creamy dish is actually a beloved dessert especially in the United States’ Rocky Mountain region.
It is the favorite in particular among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it is a staple of Mormon potlucks, cookouts, funerals, and holidays. It’s especially beloved on Thanksgiving, claiming the top spot in online Thanksgiving recipe searches in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah in 2014.
But the question is…..if it’s made of neither frogs nor lettuce, what exactly is this salad?
The principal ingredients are a small pasta, normally acini de pepe, an egg custard, whipped cream or Cool Whip, and canned fruits.
Cooks beat the egg and heat it with pineapple juice, sugar, salt, and flour until it begins to thicken. The resulting custard is combined with the cooked pasta, refrigerated until thick, and mixed with whipped cream and canned fruit. The result then gets garnished with marshmallows and shredded coconut.
The exact origin of the dish’s name is unknown and the most popular theory is that the tiny spheres of the acini de pepe pasta resembled frogs’ eyes.
