You might be looking at this and thinking, “Oh yeah, that’s ambrosia.” But I have never ever called it by that name. To my sister and me, it was always “marshmallow salad” and we only ate it on one day of the year — Thanksgiving — and boy, did we look forward to it. (No one else in the family did, but we sure did!) If you have a taste for it, Ambrosia is a crave-worthy side for any occasion… and why wouldn’t it be? Marshallows, fruit, a creamy dressing — what’s not to love?

There are a ton of ways to make Ambrosia, but this is how my mom makes hers. (And how my grandma made hers. And yes, we all called it Marshmallow Salad.)

She uses mandarin oranges, mini marshmallows, pineapple, coconut, and sour cream and a touch of sugar. Very simple, a little odd, but it totally all works together.

My mom advises you to mix everything together and then chill it overnight at the least. This way, the marshmallows absorb a bunch of the liquid and fluff up into little sweet clouds. The sour cream always seemed strange to me, but really it just ties everything together with creaminess. (I often skip the sugar, but since we’re going by the book, I’m including it here.)

This salad is a little infamous in my family. See, we’re a blended family, so my mom and sister and I were accustomed to eating this every year but my stepdad and step-siblings were not. (Family food traditions are funny.) That means that there are usually only three of us who eat this, but those three demand its presence at the table.

The first year we all celebrated together, my stepdad was working on getting everything finished for the final touches of Thanksgiving and he saw this in the fridge, noticed only the orange and the marshmallows, and assumed it was candied yams/sweet potato casserole and went ahead and put it in the oven. Luckily my mom caught it before it was in there too long. Ambrosia is many things, but it’s not meant to be cooked.

I told people for years I’d never had Ambrosia and it turns out I very much had, very many times… I just knew it by a different name — Marshmallow Salad. And, to me, it’s not a holiday without it!