One of the first things I think of when summer arrives is all of the fresh fruit that will be available.
Vegetables, too.
But it’s fruit that catches my eye at farmers’ markets and in grocery store produce aisles. And whatever genius decided to add strawberries or peaches and blueberries to a green salad is, well, a genius.
Still, growing seasons don’t always guarantee fresh fruit is going to be available the moment summer arrives, no matter how much I’m thinking about it.
I recently was reminded of one of my favorite work-arounds while visiting my mom, who frequently put a fruit salad on the dinner table, even in the middle of winter, thanks to canned fruits. It may not have the glamour of a fresh fruit salad, but the ingredients are reliable. It’s rarely difficult to find canned fruit on a grocery shelf on any random afternoon, even if you had no luck tracking it down at the farmers’ market when it opened at 7 a.m.
There are plenty of recipes floating around for fruit salads that call for “dressings,” whether it’s something light and laced with juice — not a bad idea, since citric acid can help keep fruit fresh longer — or something heavier.
Some dressings make my teeth ache just considering the sugar content. As much as I tend to favor fruit over veggies because fruit is sweeter, I’m not sure why one needs to add sugar to the dressing on a fruit salad. One recipe I found online calls for adding 1 cup of sugar to 2 cups of orange juice, which has plenty of its own sugar to spare, and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch before heating to thicken. I assume the result is something jam- or jelly-like, but it seems powerfully sweet to be a topping for already-sweet fruit.
Still other recipes call for adding brown sugar, powdered sugar or vanilla pudding.
To the other extreme, some recipes call for seasoning fruit salad with black pepper, cilantro or another herb or spice, though that works better with fresh fruits. Some may decry adding salt and pepper to such fruits as watermelon, but I think I’d rather try a dash of pepper over a load of sugar any day.
One of these days, I may venture into those culinary realms. For now, I tend to prefer my fruit salad as just that. Fruit. Though Mom also made an aptly named “Sour Cream Salad” when I was a kid. Some recipes get fancier with it, combining the sour cream with cream cheese or mayonnaise. for example. Mom’s a purist, sticking with sour cream. The addition of miniature marshmallows probably negates some of my argument against added sugar in fruit salads but, somehow, it’s not the same.
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Keeping fruit fresh ...
How do you keep fruit looking and tasting fresh after it's been cut? Soak it in lemon-lime soda, a mixture of ½ teaspoon honey blended with 1 cup of water, or 1 tablespoon of lemon juice blended with 1 cup of water.
Mom’s Fruit Salad
1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks or tidbits
1 15- or 20-ounce can sliced peaches, cut into chunks
1 8-ounce can Mandarin oranges
1 or 2 bananas, sliced
1 apple, cored and diced
Open cans. Drain the Mandarin oranges and add to a medium bowl. Pour the pineapple and peaches, including the juice, into the same bowl. Slice and add banana. Peel apple, if desired. Core and dice apple and add to bowl. Stir gently to mix fruits and juice.
Note: Adding a few Maraschino cherries, sliced strawberries or whole blueberries lends a pop of color to the mix.
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Mom’s Fruit Salad for Two
Just because you might be enamored of fruit salad doesn’t mean others in your family are, too. But fruit salad really is best served fresh, meaning packing up the leftovers and popping them in the fridge for another meal isn’t ideal.
That can be a challenge when the above recipe calls for more than 40 ounces of fruit. The solution? Those individual-serving-size fruit cups that get packed in kids’ lunch boxes are ideal.
Combining one individual-serving-size container of pineapple, one container of peaches and one container of Mandarin oranges still works out to slightly more fruit than a lot of people are willing to eat all by themselves at one meal, but it’s works out pretty well for two people.
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Mom’s Fruit Salad for Two
1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks or tidbits, well-drained
1 11-ounce can Mandarin oranges, well drained
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 8-ounce container sour cream, or to taste
Combine pineapple, Mandarin oranges and marshmallows. Add sour cream and blend. Chill in refrigerator to give the flavors a bit of time to meld.
June 23, 2021 at 01:09PM
https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Fresh-and-fruity-16267081.php
Fresh and fruity - Jacksonville Journal-Courier
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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