Bing Cherry Congealed Salad

I read through several of the reviews to make modifications – especially Jan’s. My entire family loved it! We put it in the freezer to make it a frozen salad.

Perfect recipe, easy to make almost sugar free/lite with SF jello, Coke Zero, and fat free cream cheese. Cuts calories quite a bit.

My husband loves this salad so much, we have it for dessert instead of with dinner.

I read the reviews and made this based on the advice given. I heated the cherry and pineapple juice with the jello added then poured in the coke. I put this mixture in the frig for 30 min then added the fruit, nuts and “cubed” cream cheese…stirred and let sit overnite. When ready to serve I set the mold in a sink of warm water for a few minutes…this loosened it from the edges which allowed me to successfully flip it over for a beautifully ,delicious, molded salad! Received tons of compliments on the taste as well as the beauty.

My grandmother made this for every holiday. I make it for my family now. We love it!

I don’t know if I will make this again. Everything was fine until I added the (cut up) cream cheese. It was downhill from there. I used electric beaters to “fluff” the jello and cream cheese, etc.and it didn’t happen. I wound up with white speckled jello. Maybe I should have spent more time fluffing the jello up. Maybe the cream cheese should be at room temperature. I think more precise instructions are needed for this recipe.

A favorite with my husband. Have made many times over the years usually at holidays. The cream cheese does melt into the hot jello giving it a creamy look and smooth taste…

We have used a recipe like this in my family since the 50s. This is the closest thing I could find. We always use black cherry jello and we do not blend in the cream cheese . We cube the cream cheese and add it as well as the other ingredients to the jello mixture when it is syrupy. This keeps the it evenly distributed throughout the salad. There is an art to the cream cheese. It helps to have it almost frozen but not quite for the cubes to keep their shape. Too frozen and the cream cheese will turn powdery.

This recipe has been in my family for many years. (With only a few alterations.) We just always called it “Coke Salad” for lack of the appropriate name. The only difference is we also add a box of Strawberry Jello along with the Cherry. The key to mixing in the cream cheese is to let it soften before adding. Make sure to chip it very fine before adding. (Or add it while the Jello mixture is still somewhat warm.) Don’t know if there is a difference in Bing Cherries and Dark Cherries but we always used the latter.

I have a recipe with similar ingredients, minus the cream cheese, that I’ve been making for a long time. I thought the cream cheese might give this a bit of a creamy texture and maybe alter the color a bit to pink. First, you MUST allow the gelatin mixture to congeal slightly (takes about 1 to 1-1/4 hours) in the fridge. If you don’t, all of your fruit and nuts will sink to the bottom. Next, it is IMPOSSIBLE to incorporate the cream cheese into the gelatin even if you ultimately use a mixer (I know because I finally tried that). What you end up with is red gelatin with tiny white flecks of cream cheese which isn’t too attractive. IMO the cream cheese adds nothing to this recipe except calories. You simply can’t taste it, so why bother? The term “fluffy” should be removed from the recipe because you’ll never reach a fluffy stage. I used sugar-free jello, and it firmed up fine, but you just don’t have that beautiful clear jello appearance. It looks a little “curdled” for lack of a better expression. Tastes OK, but sorry, I’ll stick with my old tried-and-true recipe.

This recipe has been in my southern family for more than 50 yrs. The cream cheese should be cubed,or diced, and stirred in, along w fruit/nuts once mixture has been allowed to congeal slightly. It is nut “fluffy”, but rather is a congealed salad w/ a tart taste. Also, my recipe calls for these amts: 2 pkgs jello,1 can cherries, 2 pkgs cream cheese, 1 sm can pineapple, 13 oz cola. heat juice from fruit to dissolve the jello, add cola, then refrigerate to congeal slightly ( about 1 hr). Gently stir in cubed cheese, fruit & nuts, and allow to congeal completely.

Delicious! I followed the advice of previous reviewers and used a can of sour cherries, 1 can of cola, and 2 boxes of cherry gelatin. It was great!

We’ve had this recipe in our family for years, but ours has different amounts. This might help with the “sour” reviews. Try a full 8 ounces of cream cheese, a whole can cola, and two small packages of cherry jello. Also, ours has never come out “fluffy.” It just looks like a regular jello. Enjoy because we sure do!

This recipe is fabulous, and the fact that I don’t have to add sugar is great. I used the no-sugar jello, was delicious, will use again… My maiden name was Bice, Niki, care to tell me about yourself? Nancy

This has been a family favorite for over 30 years (all of my life). Tons of flavor and the different textures are great too. My favorite thing about this salad is the zing from the carbonated cola!

This salad was extremely stiff, not fluffy. I made it twice to make sure that I had followed the directions correctly. The cream cheese got lost in the jello. I would not make it again but if I did I would add more cream cheese.

We love this recipe and have used it for over 25 years. Make sure the cherries are bing cherries, or it will be sour to the taste. We cut the cream cheese in little pieces – it’s wonderful!

I am hooked on this recipe! The cherries are so delicious! I had trouble getting the cream cheese to blend easily, though. Other than that, it was a hit at Christmas. Very pretty, too.

this dish was very sour …i didn’t like it