Fabulous Fresh Fruit Salad Recipes

Fresh fruit salad recipes for summer or winter

Enjoy these easy fresh fruit salad recipes whenever you can benefit from local fruits!

Raw fruit is brilliant. It's tasty yet subtle and brimming with vitality and nutrients.

Of course, some of what's on offer in the supermarkets is often relatively insipid fare, grown for size and eye-appeal over taste. If you buy fruit specially for these healthy fruit recipes, try to source the best and most local organic fruits, where possible.

If you are using some of your own fresh fruit or you have access to quality organic fruit these recipes will be so much the tastier!

Quality fresh fruit is also full of valuable vitamins, minerals and enzymes which help you to keep a healthy immune system and feel in tip-top condition. Fruit nutrients are now better understood: here's a little information on the nutritional value of fruit.

Fresh fruit is fantastic but dried fruits and even frozen fruit can help with creating appetizing and nutritious desserts.

Basic fruit salad is a breeze

Fruit salads are also generally rather easy to make. At the most basic, just chop whatever fruit is available, add a light syrup of water and honey or sugar (optional - you may prefer to go sugar-free) and add yogurt or cream to serve.

These recipes go for a slightly more advanced level of skill but are still quite easy and quick to make.

Fresh fruit can be kept fresh for longer if you use an ExtraLife Produce Preserver Disk. They are really easy to use - you just put them in with the fruit and veg in your refrigerator crisper tray. They work by neutralising the ethylene gas given off by fruits and vegetables as they ripen - and that slows the ripening process.

Fresh fruit salad recipes: Fresh homegrown cherries

Spiced Port Fruit Salad

This lovely recipe is very easy but needs preparing ahead of time because you need to let the ingredients cool down and then be chilled before serving.

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons of honey

1 cinnamon stick

3 or 4 cloves

rind of 1 orange

2 oranges

3 or 4 apricots fresh or dried and soaked

3 bananas

2 large apples (not cookers)

1 small melon

6 ozs (150gms) seedless grapes, red or white

1/2 pint (300mls or 1 1/2 cups) of port or rich dessert wine

Apple juice or grape juice can replace the port if you want a non-alcoholic version.

Method

Put the spices, rind and honey into a saucepan and add 1 cup of water, grape juice or apple juice to the mix. Stir everything in as it heats up. When the honey is dissolved turn off the heat. There's no need to boil it as this may impair the flavour of the honey. Let the mixture stand to infuse the spices.

When the mixture is cold you can add the port.

Peel and segment the oranges, halve the apricots. Prepare the melon by either slicing into cubes or use a melon-baller. Slice the bananas and apples. The grapes can be left whole if they are truly seedless.

Put the fruit salad mixture to chill for an hour or two before serving.

Serving

Serve with fresh meringues, cream, yogurt or even cold custard.

Variants

Add a little sliced date or fresh fig. Fresh plums can be substituted for the apricots.

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Apple and Cottage Cheese Zing

Here's a semi-savoury fresh fruit salad recipe. It is both delicious and filling. Apple and cheese combinations nearly always work well together. The high protein content of this salad makes it suitable for a light meal.

Ingredients

2 or 3 dessert apples

1 orange

1 tangerine or other sweet citrus fruit

A small bunch of grapes

A pinch of spice - mixed spice and/or cinnamon

A small handful of nuts

100gm/ 4ozs of cottage cheese

Method

Chop or slice the apples and citrus fruits into small bite sized pieces.

Mix in the nuts and spices.

Arrange the salad in a dish on top of the cottage cheese.

Serve chilled - about half an hour in the fridge is enough.

Variants

Substitute thick yogurt for the cottage cheese or use cubed pieces of feta cheese.

Green and Gold Fruit Salad

This is a beautiful and tasty fresh fruit salad. It does use some tropical fruit which you might want to substitute with more local fare if you are from a temperate region. I don't want to encourage people to use air-freighted fruit which is quite unsustainable!

Many tropical fruits can be obtained as dried fruit. They can be rather high in concentrated sugars but a small amount of them in an otherwise fresh fruit salad can work well. For best results soak them in filtered water for some hours before use.

Ingredients

1 small melon

1 star fruit

2 apples (green)

2 kiwi fruits

1 lime

1 small pineapple

runny honey

Method

Grate the rind from the lime and reserve it.

Squeeze the juice and mix it with 1 - 2 tablespoons of honey.

Slice the apple thinly and add it to the juice. Leave the skin on if the apple is organic and the skin is not tough.

Peel and slice the kiwi fruit. Chop the melon into small chunks. Slice the pineapple into small pieces. Slice the star fruit. (Remove all the skins first.)

Add everything into the juice and stir around carefully so as not to break the fruit.

Blanch the grated rind in hot water for about 30 seconds.

Sprinkle the lime rind on top.

Chill everything for about two hours before serving.

Serving

Serve the fruit salad with Greek yogurt, fromage frais and a drizzle of extra honey.

Variants

Use a little banana instead of star fruit. Use lemon instead of lime. Add sprigs of mint or lemon balm to serve.

Fresh fruit salad recipes can easily be varied with a little imagination and some good local, in season fruits!

If you have fresh fruit salad recipes that you especially like, please consider adding them to this site.

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