-JT
Posted on 02/24/2016 3:00:19 PM PST by Jamestown1630
Back in the 1970's-80's our family had a friend, a young Naval officer, who traveled all over the world and frequently came home with exotic gifts for everyone.
I remember a Summer when he visited and brought us a big bag of what must be one of the loveliest soaps ever made - Macedonia Soap, from Spain. It had a light, citrus scent and a kind of 'fizzy' spirit; I always felt effervescent after showering with it, and the memory of that soap still epitomizes Summer for me.
I've tried for years to find it again, even to stamping my foot and demanding that friends traveling to Spain look for it there; but I've had no luck, and don't think it's being made anymore.
However, in the process of searching I learned how it got its name: the soap - a clear glycerin bar with brightly-colored chunks of milled soap captured inside - is named after the Italian fruit-and-wine dish 'Macedonian Salad'.
Here is a short article, and a recipe for Macedonian Salad; it would be wonderful for a Summer evening party on the lawn or porch:
http://www.divinacucina.com/2014/02/macedonia-italian-fruit-salad/
I think my favorite fruit salad is the Waldorf Salad as we know it today, with walnuts, grapes and sometimes raisins in it. The original recipe, created at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the late 1890s, contained only apples, celery, and mayonnaise on a bed of iceberg lettuce. At some point, walnuts were added; and over the years many other variations developed. (I've also found some recipes that use candied walnuts, and that would be a great tweak.)
Here is the version I like, from 'The Joy of Cooking':
Waldorf Salad
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced cored, peeled apples
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup seedless red grapes, halved, optional
1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise
Combine celery, apples, walnuts, and grapes in a medium bowl. Stir in mayonnaise.
Serve at room temperature or chilled.
-JT
This week, Fruit Salads!
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread, please send a private message.)
-JT
Googling out of curiosity I found a soap of this style being sold online, though maybe its manufacturer isn’t the same as of what you had.
http://www.spanishoponline.com/lixone-tutti-frutti-macedonia-glycerin-soaps.html
LOL! Yes, I googled it too and came up with a company in the US that has it listed. Unfortunetly it is out of stock.
http://www.thesoapopera.com/cgi-bin/scart.cgi/KRIS-10307.php3?scartid=7644166
Can we expand it? I’m on a fruit crumble craze.
But if anyone has a decent, old-fashioned Ambrosia recipe, I’d love to read it.
As the confused hotel owner Basil Fawlty said to his enraged Ugly American guest:
“I’m afraid we’re all out of waldorfs.”
My family loves Waldorf Salad in the summer. I whisk a little cinnamon with the mayo.... It comes together very nicely!
Thanks to both of you!
Lixone is one of the ones I’ve found, but there have been a lot of ‘knockoffs’, and I believe the real, original, was by Krisbel. I keep watching the La Tienda site (they used to have it, too) and Soap Opera, but it’s been quite a while since anybody had it.
I’m telling you, though: if anybody could get hold of that recipe and make it again, they’d get rich!
The problem with many of the old soaps, perfumes, etc. that have been discontinued or reformulated, is that they used REAL ingredients, not synthetic fragrances. In many cases, those ingredients have become prohibitively expensive.
Another really nice Spanish soap is Heno de Pravia; but it’s a much more robust, herbal soap, smelling strongly of lavender and one other note that I can’t quite place. I like it a lot, but still prefer Yardley’s English Lavender as a soap along that line - and fortunately, it’s still widely available for a very good price.
Does anyone recall Ben Rickert’s ‘Benandre’? For some reason, Macedonia seems in my memory to have been a lot like that.
-JT
It is a nice twist.
Apparently, kids like it with some of those baby marshmallows tossed in ;-)
-JT
I’ve been reading Free Republic for a few years..I’ve been a monthly supporter for a few years..but this is my first comment! I had to register to do so. I wanted to say I make Waldorf salad often. I’m not a big fan of the mayonnaise dressing so I use lemon yogurt.
If you do a search, you’ll find a zillion ways to make it; and lots of the recipes do use yogurt. I will have to try that.
-JT
I bet my granddaughters would like that!
My favorite is nothing fancy.
Just grab whatever fruit looks good.
Pineapple, strawberry, blueberries, raspberries, mandarins, kiwis.
Cut them up and mix them with honey Greek yogurt. Yum!
I am not a fruit salad fan, but this thread is so charming & I learn so much that I wouldn’t miss it! Waldorf salad was the first thing we ever made in home ec; )
I once had a salad with dragon’s eye fruit and a whipping- cream-based dressing in the private area of a restaurant during a Chinese New Year celebration. Does anyone happen to have a recipe for such a dressing?
-JT
Hmm. Interesting. I’ll have to try that.
Sorry my formatting got messed-up; we’re having severe weather and are under a tornado warning; so I’m typing fast, and shutting down the ‘puter periodically :-)
Somewhere I have an actual recipe for that Dragon Fruit, and I’ll look for it.
-JT
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