in #CASE you were curious about: Ambrosia!
December 12th is National Ambrosia Day
The word comes (in the mid 16th century) via Latin from Greek, ‘elixir of life’, from ambrotos ‘immortal.’
According to the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, “Ambrosia is a dessert made from fruits, sugar and grated coconut, most popular in the South.”
In its simplest form, ambrosia is a citrus fruit salad, made with sugar and sprinkled with coconut. As the fruity concoction has gained popularity, it’s really never made the same way twice! Recipes include ingredients such as: oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, marshmallows, coconut, sugar, and liquor!
Recipes specifically titled ambrosia begin to appear in American cookbooks in the last quarter of the 19th Prior to this time there were several recipes that would produce somewhat similar results, listed under different names such as iced oranges. The key ingredient that separates these from “true” ambrosia is coconut.
In classical Greek mythology, ambrosia is known as “The food of the Gods.”
It was believed that the Gods kept their immortality by eating Ambrosia and without this substance, they’d became weak. A human being who took Ambrosia became strong and immortal.