Fruit Salad Recipe

Fruit Salad makes the perfect ending to any meal. Low in calories and fat, high in nutrition and flavor, it makes an easy weekday dessert. There are two ways to make a fruit salad; one is to just sweeten the fruit with a little sugar and maybe a splash of lemon juice and/or liqueur. The second way, done here, is to macerate all the glistening fruit in a lemon flavored sugar syrup.

Roger Verge in his book Cooking with Fruit tells us that "a successful (fruit) salad has everything to seduce you: the lush flavors of cut fresh fruit, the explosive colors of the exposed flesh, and the contrasting soft and crunchy textures that tickle the palate." From his lovely description you know that the fruits you use, and their quality, are very important to how flavorful your salad will taste. Summer does offer the widest selection of fruit (all kinds of berries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums), but even in the dead of winter there are fruits like apples, oranges, pears, pineapple, seedless grapes, kiwi, and bananas to choose from. And don't forget about adding dried fruits, as dried figs, cranberries, cherries, apricots, and raisins add both color and flavor to fruit salads. It is best to cut large fruits, like apples, pears, and peaches, into bite size chunks or wedges. Cantaloupe and honeydew can be cut into pretty round balls with a tool called a melon ball scoop. If using oranges or grapefruit, remove the rind and the inner white pith as it can be quite bitter tasting. The fruit then needs to be separated into sections and all the seeds removed. Do this over a bowl to catch any juices. The salad can be made several hours in advance of serving and kept in the refrigerator. You can serve the fruit salad cold or at room temperature. Softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream make nice accompaniments as do shortbread cookies.