I haven't tried your version. It does look good. I do different spin offs of the 5 cup salad. Each salad is different according to what I have on hand. I've added sliced banana, green grapes,or red grapes. I mix my combinations into drained fruit cocktail, pineapple tidbits and mandarin oranges with the tri- colored marshmellows. I think I want to try adding the apples and maybe a pudding or yougurt instead of sour cream. Thanx for the ideas. FYI...the sour cream is sweetened from the coconut and marshmellow. They both have a powdery feel to them. Using a different pudding or yogurt will change the flavor of the salad. Sounds yum-0 I think the french vanilla since its my favorite then banana cream. Happy stirring all.

I make my grandmother's recipe . She always made a custard then folded in heavy whipped cream , she also put green grapes cut in quarters , back then 50s and 60s she had to remove the seeds . The custard was folded in to the pineapple, green grapes red cherrys , coconut , mandarin oranges. This one of my favorite desserts .

I grew up in the 50’s with my mom always having this for dessert at Christmas served in fancy glass cordial stems. I remember helping her make it and because we had a very diabetic family, she used fresh sectioned oranges, cut apples, coconut and some kind of filler...probably sour cream...plus mini marshmallows. As much as I like the taste of maraschino cherries, I have always been a purist and don’t use any kind dyed or preserved food. I will try to find some dye-free or dried cherries and I get my marshmallows from Whole Foods. I have my mom’s recipe somewhere and found this great thread bringing all the memories and now want to reproduce it for my four young grandchildren. I must say the carb count listed here is ridiculously high, and since I am a Type 1 diabetic, I will use all fresh fruit with the marshmallows having the only added sugar and unsweetened coconut. The mandarins sound fun too.

OMG! This has always been my favorite since I was ...well, since I can remember. My grandmother ALWAYS prepared it for Christmas and Thanksgiving day. I literally thought about it all year and cpuld not wait for the holidays! It was my fav as a kid and still is. My grandma passed away some years ago but we honor her by always making this recipe. Her version had no nuts and no yogurt/sour cream. Instead she used cream cheese and Cool Whip m. Some of her versions were just Cream Cheese (leave some of the fruit juices in for incredible flavor!) We used white marshmallows for Thanksgiving and colored foe Xmas (tree lights. .lol. That's what she'd say). Anyway, thanks so much for sharing. Memories are wonderful!! Especially now that I have grandkids and they love this, too!!

I make mine a little different, you can see as follows: Mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, cherries Cool whip coconut chopped walnuts chocolate chips, mini marshmallows I cook the juices down with 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup of flour to make paste, then I add juices and an egg cook until thickens like jelly. I preside to cook pasta (very little pasta like mini stars) until tender, don’t over cook. Drain pasta and let cool after juice mixture is cool you can add to pasta with the fruits. Refrigerate overnight then add coconut walnuts, choc chips and marshmallow