Refreshing fruit salads are one of my go-to foods on hot summer days, so when I saw a recipe for Fruit Salad Dressing Made with Honey in a hundred-year-old cookbook I knew that I had to give it a try.
The whipped dressing, made with real cream, honey, and vinegar, was tart – but a perfect fruit topping. The tangy-sweetness of this light, airy whipped cream dressing perks up the fruit, and can turn a generic mixture of fruits into a special fruit salad. When I made this recipe, I asked people to guess what ingredient gave the dressing its tang. They guessed that it contained sour cream or even a little yogurt – and didn’t think of vinegar.
Here’s the hundred-year-old recipe:
I couldn’t tell from the recipe whether the Fruit Salad Dressing was supposed to be spooned on top of the fruit or stirred into the fruit, so I made it both ways. The two presentations were very different – but the Fruit Salad was delicious both ways.
And, here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Fruit Salad Dressing Made with Honey
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
Beat egg yolks, then stir in the honey, vinegar, and salt. Place in a saucepan, and cook using medium heat while stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and continue cooking for 1 minute. Remove from heat and chill in refrigerator.
When ready to serve, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form and then stir in the chilled egg mixture.
May be served as a fruit topping or stirred into a fruit mixture (grapes, cherry halves, cubed peaches or apricots, strawberries, etc. work well).
Cook’s note: This recipe makes a lot of dressing. I used the dressing on two consecutive days. On the first day, I whipped 1/2 cup of cream and stirred the egg mixture in to taste. The second day I whipped the remainder of the cream and stirred in the remaining dressing.
A Hundred Years Ago 
Wow–it seems like such an odd combo of ingredients but it sounds good! The presentation is beautiful in that first picture!
Thank you! I’m always trying to improve my photography skills and it’s nice to hear that you liked this photo.
I can’t even imagine what this would taste like, so of course the only solution is to make it. I do love fruit salads, and we’re certainly in fruit salad season, so it will be a good addition to my routine.
It you give it a try, you’ll have to let me know what you think. This dressing brings back a vague food memory from my childhood that I can’t place – maybe a dressing on an ambrosia salad.
It’s a dressy salad! Looks so inviting!
It did look nice.
I agree, it seems like an odd combination. I didn’t see the egg yolks at first and was focused on the vinegar.
The inclusion of the egg yolk in the recipe, and the way the ingredients were boiled, reminded me of some of the old Boiled Dressings – though they won’t contain the whipped cream.
Yes. I make a dressing from my grandmother with the boiled egg. It turned out that the mixture had to be strained.
Very interesting dressing!
It was quite good in it’s own old-fashioned way.
I like the dollop-on-top version – looks delicious!
It was lovely.
That sounds so interesting. What vinegar did you choose? Red wine, white wine or cider? I’m guessing cider vinegar?
You guessed right – I used cider vinegar. 🙂
This looks delicious…great for summer heat!
It was tasty.
Sounds interesting. H would like this different take on all those fruit salads I’ve been making. ~Elle
Looks yummy!
The first presentation is lovely but I think it would taste better the second way. I would not have guessed vinegar but then I know some old-fashioned peach cobbler called for vinegar.
I certainly wouldn’t guess vinegar! I think it looks good spooned on top.
I would have missed this post if you hadn’t mentioned it in the porcupine recipe! So glad I didn’t for this is a keeper to try!!
I can’t wait to try this! Sounds and looks great for our Georgia long, hot summer.
Amazing dressing. Sounds very delicious.