The winter holidays are here, which for many means a bounty of joy, gratitude and, at least for a couple decades there in the mid-1900s, a frightening volume of gelatin. A succulent spiral ham. A ...

Gelatin salads used to be a mainstay on holiday tables, shaped into rings, molds, and towers in shades rarely found in food. They mixed sweet with savory, fruit with meats, and marshmallows with ...