Florida Ambrosia Salad Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the oranges, pineapple, marshmallows and coconut. Add sour cream and toss to mix. Cover and refrigerate for several hours.

Steps:

• Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Spread the pecans on a small baking sheet and bake, stirring once halfway through, until lightly browned and toasted, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer the pecans to a medium bowl and cool completely.
• Whip the heavy cream in a medium bowl with an electric mixer to stiff peaks. Stir in the sour cream by hand until combined. Stir in the marshmallows, pineapple and coconut. Gently fold in the mandarin oranges. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• Right before serving, roughly chop the pecans. Fold the pecans and maraschino cherries into the ambrosia salad. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Pierce the softest eye of the coconut with a metal skewer or small screwdriver and drain any liquid into a small bowl to sample-you should have about 1/2 cup liquid. (If the liquid tastes sweet, the coconut is fresh; if it tastes oily, the coconut is rancid and should be discarded.)
• Bake the coconut for 15 minutes then transfer to a folded towel on a work surface. Using the back of a knife or a cleaver, crack the shell open. Break the shell into large pieces and use a strong knife to carefully remove the flesh from the shell. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the brown skin then shave the coconut into thin strips-you should have about 4 cups shaved coconut. Reserve 2 cups for the ambrosia salad; wrap and freeze the remainder for another use. DO AHEAD: Coconut shavings can stored, in an airtight container, in the refrigerator up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months.
• Using a serrated knife, cut the peel off the grapefruits and oranges. Cut the fruit crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds then cut the rounds into bite-size pieces. Transfer to a large bowl; add the pineapple, kumquats, pomegranate seeds, 2 cups coconut shavings, 1/2 cup coconut juice, and the apple juice, and toss gently to combine. Serve at room temperature or chilled. DO AHEAD: Florida Ambrosia Salad can be prepared ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator up to 8 hours.