Must a Waldorf Salad be made with apples? I’ve always thought it was an apple salad until I made a Cherry Salad recipe that I found in a hundred-year-old cookbook. The recipe called for cherries, walnuts, celery, and mayonnaise – and it sure seemed like a Waldorf Salad, but was made with cherries rather than apples. The Cherry Salad was delicious, and is perfect for a hot summer day.
The old recipe called for creating individual servings of the salad, which were put in “lettuce nests” on salad plates. I replicated the old recipe and made individual servings, but if I did it again, I would just put the entire salad in a bowl to serve.
Here’s the original recipe:
This recipe calls for English walnuts. These are the type of walnuts that are typically sold in stores. They were called English walnuts to differentiate them from black walnuts.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Cherry Salad (Cherry Waldorf Salad)
2 cups cherries, pitted (If desired, keep several cherries whole and unpitted for garnishing.)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise (Use less if desired)
lettuce leaves (if desired)
If the cherries are large, halve or quarter them; if small they can be left whole. Mix together the cherries, walnuts, celery, and mayonnaise. If desired, for each serving, arrange on lettuce leaves and garnish with a whole cherry; or just put the salad in a dish to serve.
It actually sounds delicious and I just met someone who was allergic to apples so it would be perfect.
Sounds delightful!
I really like this recipe, Sheryl, thank you. It’s interesting how she called them English walnuts, so I’m glad you explained. I love cherries and thought I’d made just about every kind of cherry dish available, but I had never heard of this one and plan to try it.
Lovely!
I love cherries and like Waldorf salad but I think I would save my cherries and walnuts for a bowl of ice cream!
I’m not a fan of mayonnaise but I think the cherries are a step up from apples!