Watergate salad, also referred to as Pistachio Delight, is a sweet-tasting dessert salad

Salad

Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...

 made from pistachio pudding

Pistachio pudding

Pistachio pudding is a green pudding made from pistachio nuts and occasionally contains small chunks of almonds. This pudding is also an ingredient in certain types of cakes and pies and pistachio salad....

, canned pineapple, and Cool Whip

Cool Whip

Cool Whip is a brand of imitation whipped cream named a whipped topping by its manufacturer. It is used in North America as a dessert topping and in some no-bake pie recipes. It was generally described as "non-dairy" as it contained no cream or milk and no lactose; however, it did contain the milk...

, and marshmallows. It is very quick to prepare: the ingredients are combined and it can be chilled, if desired.

The canned fruit used is usually pineapple, but can be a fruit cocktail and/or mandarin orange

Mandarin orange

The orange, also known as the ' or mandarine , is a small citrus tree with fruit resembling other oranges. Mandarin oranges are usually eaten plain or in fruit salads...

s. Mini-marshmallow

Marshmallow

The marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, corn syrup, water, gelatin that has been softened in hot water, dextrose, vanilla flavourings, and sometimes colouring, whipped to a spongy consistency. Some marshmallow recipes call for egg whites...

s and cottage cheese

Cottage cheese

Cottage cheese is a cheese curd product with a mild flavor. It is drained, but not pressed, so some whey remains and the individual curds remain loose. The curd is usually washed to remove acidity, giving sweet curd cheese. It is not aged or colored. Different styles of cottage cheese are made from...

 are also used, and there are many slight variations with additional ingredients. Watergate salad is similar to ambrosia salad

Ambrosia (fruit salad)

Ambrosia is a variation on the traditional fruit salad. It contains sweetened whipped cream , sour cream, or with less calorie yogurt, pineapple, mandarin oranges, miniature marshmallows and coconut. Some versions also contain maraschino cherries, bananas, strawberries, also crushed pecans can...

. It is a popular dish in the Upper Midwest

Upper Midwest

The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the midwest. Although there are no uniformly agreed-upon boundaries, the region is most commonly used to refer to the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and...

 and other areas where potluck

Potluck

A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food prepared by the person or the group of people, to be shared among the group...

s are popular.

The origin of the name “Watergate salad” is obscure. Kraft Corporate Affairs said, "We developed the recipe for Pistachio Pineapple Delight. It was in 1975, the same year that pistachio pudding mix came out." Kraft, however, didn't refer to it as Watergate Salad until consumers started requesting the recipe for it under the name. "According to Kraft Kitchens, when the recipe for Pistachio Pineapple Delight was sent out, an unnamed Chicago food editor renamed it Watergate Salad to promote interest in the recipe when she printed it in her column." Neither the article nor editor has been tracked down, however.