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Food on Fridays with Ann
Mom would drive home after a long day of editing stories for the county newspaper and put together a meal which often included a bowl of fruit cocktail for dessert. As a child, I ate my serving systematically, from least to most favorite fruit. First, the pears. Then, grapes, because when canned they were squishy and unappealing compared to fresh. Next, pineapple. After that, the peaches, and then finally, the maraschino cherry.
From time to time, I might mix this up a bit, eating the grapes before the pears, say, or saving a bit of pineapple to add variety to the peach portion. But that was more or less my order of consumption.
One day, not long ago, I turned down the canned fruit aisle to pick up applesauce and asked my daughter if she had ever eaten fruit cocktail.
“No. Never.”
“Really? I’ve never served it?”
“No.”
“You’ve never eaten it at someone’s house?”
“No. I don’t even know what it is.”
“It’s fruit.”
“But what’s the cocktail part?”
I decided the kids should try fruit cocktail.
I bought the slightly healthier version “in pear juice from concentrate” instead of heavy syrup and served the concoction in clear dishes my mom gave me the other day.
I offered some to each of the kids. Two shook their heads. “No, thanks.”
“Try it!” I urged them. “I told you I grew up eating this stuff. It’s fruit. You like fruit.”
My husband agreed they should give it a try, so finally two of the four let me set one of the bowls in front of them. My son stared at it. “What’s this?” he asked, pointing to an unfamiliar, square tidbit.
“I think it’s a piece of pear.”
He made a face.
“Try it,” I encouraged him. “It’s a very simple flavor.” He hesitated and then stuck it in his mouth. He chewed slowly, making evaluation faces: raising an eyebrow, squinting his eyes, sort of looking up as if thinking.
“It’s okay,” he concluded. “It’s not bad. But it’s not great, either.”
“That sounds about right,” I said. “Those weren’t my favorite. I liked the peaches and then the cherry. I always saved that for last.”
“What’s this?” he asked.
I leaned forward and looked in his spoon. “Maybe another pear. No, wait, it’s a piece of pineapple, I think.” The fruit loses its individuality when canned. He took a bite and deemed it tolerable; better than the pear. He stuck his spoon in to the mixture and lifted out different bits and pieces, growing less and less interested. Finally, he set down the spoon and slid the dish toward me.
“You can have the rest, Mama. I think you like this a lot better than I do.”
“You’re done trying it?” I asked.
“I’m done,” he said. “I think I had enough to know what it’s like. And look, I saved the cherry for you, because you said you liked that best.”
I picked up a spoon and worked my way through the cocktail, ending, finally, with the cherry, which I saved for last.
Credits: Cocktail serving photos by S. Kroeker; can photo by Ann Kroeker.
25 Responses to Food on Fridays: Fruit Cocktail
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Blogger: Pursuing a Christ-centered, creative, curious, slightly quirky, slow-down life and sharing it with you, post after post. (Home of Food on Fridays).
Author: Not So Fast: Slow-Down Solutions for Frenzied Families
Content Editor: The High Calling (Family/Parenting)
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Anne, this brings back fond memories. We’d have ice cream at our birthday parties as kids, and there would be fruit cocktail on top. Yum! Makes me want to go out and buy some. Might do that tomorrow (um, later today… :-O )
Thanks for the note, Alison, and the visual of your ice cream topping.
I always liked fruit cocktail, but I too used to save the cherry for last. I haven’t had fruit cocktail for a long time, but I’m sure there must be a can in my store cupboard somewhere – I’m thinking I might be serving it very soon! Thank you for sharing another lovely post, and also for hosting the linky.
I didn’t realize how nostalgic this post would be until I started writing it.
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve thought about fruit cocktail. My grandma would put it in a cake pan, sprinkle a dry cake mix over it, dot that with a stick of butter, and bake it. As a child I found that to be a mighty fine dessert.
Thanks, Ann, for bringing back that memory.
That sounds delicious, your mom’s quick-n-easy dessert. I’ll bet that was yummy.
Kind of like pineapple upside-down cake with different fruit.
This post brings back memories, so funny now that I look back at it. Especially since I have become the “local” cook and wouldn’t dream of purposely eating it now LOL. Well, that and I watch my calories more closely. At least I see you got the “lite” version.
Isn’t it interesting how most of us have changed our eating habits? I eat fresh fruit, not canned fruit cocktail; but I do eat canned applesauce.
Well,she didn’t mention that neither kid would eat their veggies and the doctor said fruit would do, so in winter, it was fruit cocktail, often with a banana added. And she didn’t mention that I had to carefully count the cherries to be sure they were equally distributed, even to occasionally slicing one in half!
I should have mentioned the banana! And, well, I should have mentioned the picky-eater thing, too…
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Funny post! I haven’t eaten fruit cocktail in years but when I was a kid I loved fruit cocktail in homemade tapioca pudding, I however did not like the cherries. Thanks for hosting!
Oh, that sounds interesting! Next time you make it, save the cherries for me!
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My dad worked for the railroad as a switchman, and often they would work the cannery rails. On occasion there were dented cans that the men could take home given to them by the cannery worker. I can remember fruit cocktail being one of them. It was a favorite. This brought back happy memories.
Thank you Ann for hosting and for your lovely stories.
I’ll bet that was a sweet surprise, when the fruit cocktail can came home!
I never liked fruit cocktail either! It just doesn’t taste as good as real fruit. Your son is so cute
Thanks, kyleen!
Sometimes even a simple can of fruit cocktail will get 20 comments.
Isn’t that something? Fruit cocktail awakens memories.
I also had a lot of fruit cocktail for dessert growing up.
It was one of the better fruits served in school cafeteria lunches, too.
I bet the reason your kids didn’t like it is that they’re accustomed to a healthier, more “real” diet! Do you serve other canned fruits much?
My son will eat fruit cocktail but is not a big fan of any part except the cherries. He much prefers canned tropical fruit salad, which not coincidentally is a lot more nutritious. He brings his lunch to elementary school, but his preschool provided lunch, and 16 months after graduating he is STILL talking about the pathetic food there: “The pears were cubes, Mama! Pears don’t grow that way! And they were gray! And way too sweet!”
Yes, we eat fresh fruit most often, so everything seemed mushy to the kids. And I agree with your son: pears don’t grow in cubes! Nor do I cut a fresh pear into cubes! They might be a little gray, though…and some fresh pears are very sweet.