Fruit salad
Instructions
Tips
Sometimes it is nice to prepare your desserts in advance, especially if you are preparing other dishes as well. The best answer for how to keep fruit salad from turning brown and keeping it fresh is to cover the fruit's surface in sugar as we suggest in the recipe or mix the freshly cut fruit with an acidic juice like lemon juice, orange juice, pineapple juice or honey water.
Tips
While the former might be a bit too zingy and the latter a bit too sweet for an already sweet dessert, orange juice, which is a staple in many households, balances nicely between being sweet and tart and may as such add a note of freshness to your dessert which already contains fresh orange as well.
Questions about fruit salad
Though deceptively simple, there is still much to be learned from our fruit salad recipe. Continue reading below to explore our answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the refreshing and scrumptious dessert.
Fruit salads are dishes containing different kinds of fruit and usually a kind of topping like whipped cream, syrup, or a dressing. There are no set rules for what goes in a fruit salad; some are served as desserts, while others are used as side dishes or appetizers. An easy fruit salad like ours has a classic combination of grapes, banana, pear, apple, and orange, making it a wonderful dessert or sweet afternoon treat when served with whipped cream.
A good fruit salad is incredibly easy to make compared to how delicious it tastes. Simply cut the fruit into bite-sized chunks and mix the pieces with a tablespoon of cane sugar. Allow the fruit to absorb the sugar for about 30 minutes and mix the fruit with ice-cold whipped cream for a deliciously creamy and fresh dessert garnished with dark chocolate shavings.
Dishes containing fresh fruit can, as you have possibly experienced, be a bit difficult to keep fresh as many kinds of fruit, including apples, pears, and bananas, begin to oxidise and turn brown and soft shortly after being cut. Mixing the freshly cut fruit with sugar will provide it with a protective layer that may slow down this oxidisation process. Using acidic fruits like orange or pineapple will also help the dessert stay fresh and crisp as their juices counteract oxidisation as well.
Fruit salad with whipped cream is best enjoyed freshly made. But if transferred to an airtight container immediately after being prepared, you may also enjoy it the following day – especially if you coat the fresh fruit with sugar or an acidic juice like pineapple or orange juice to prevent oxidisation. If stored properly in the refrigerator, the dessert should last for 2-3 days.
While you may freeze the fruit for this dessert, we do not recommend freezing the entire dish. In the freezer, the fruit should keep for up to 6 months. However, freezing fresh fruit and thawing it to eat fresh again might change the texture and colour slightly. Make sure to wash, cut, and then pat it dry properly to remove as much moisture as you can before freezing it. If you want to prevent the bite-sized fruit chunks from sticking together, place them on a baking tray after patting them dry, cover them with a layer of cling film, and pop them into the freezer for a few hours before bagging or transferring them to an airtight container. Thaw the fruit overnight in the refrigerator and mix it with fresh whipped cream. It might be necessary to drain the fruit after it has thawed since it may be a little ‘wet’ and therefore it can make the fruit salad soggy.
While it is possible to prepare the fruits and whipped cream ahead of time, you will achieve the freshest and crispiest result by serving it immediately after making it. Coat the freshly cut fruit with sugar or an acidic fruit juice like orange or pineapple juice and transfer it to an airtight container immediately.
Ingredients
Fruit salad:
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Halved blue grapes
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100 g |
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Diced apple
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1 |
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Diced pear
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1 |
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Banana in slices
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1 |
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Orange in smaller pieces
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1 |
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Cane sugar
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1 tbsp |
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Double cream
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150 ml |
Garnish:
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Coarsely chopped dark chocolate (about 55% cocoa)
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25 g |
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Other recipes
Classic old-fashioned fruit salad
Many different varieties of this fruity fresh salad can be found across the globe. Some constitute a basic fruit salad with just fruit and cream, while others are more elaborate and feature a mix of fruits, vegetables, and nuts like a classic Waldorf salad. Some, like ambrosia salad, even have candy like mini marshmallows in them.
Our quick fruit salad is simple and delicious, easy to make, and is the perfect size for a family dinner or a few guests. It is incredibly easy to double, triple, or even quadruple the recipe if you need to make a bigger batch of this delicious dessert or fresh snack. Simply buy more beautiful, fresh grapes, bananas, apples, pears, and oranges and get cutting to experience the fresh, sweet flavours and different textures!
Fresh fruit salad with cream
Using whipped cream for fruit salad is delicious. Its creamy taste and velvety texture work exceedingly well with the fruit’s freshness and its different consistencies from the soft banana and juicy orange to the crispy pieces of pear and apple. Whipped cream brings an almost buttery sweetness to the dessert that goes perfectly with the intense dark chocolate.
Does the combination of fruit and cream appeal to you? Then we have a selection of recipes you might like to check out! We have a ginger-spiced applesauce dessert served with lemon-infused cream, a crispy berry mix pavlova with vanilla whipped cream, and a colourful blueberry meringue cake, which is also served with whipped cream.
Pep it up with dark chocolate on top
The best fruit salad features a delicious topping like chocolate to round off the experience. Pairing sweet fruits and smooth whipped cream with chopped dark chocolate is wonderful. The coarsely chopped chocolate provides a bit of crunch as well as a rich, bittersweet note that beautifully complements the dessert's fresh, yet creamy, flavour profile. The dark shards also look great atop the snow-white cream through which you get small glimpses of the colourful fruits.
Make it your own
Change up our simple fruit salad recipe to suit your taste by making your own fruit mix.
You could, for instance, opt for a sweet and tart tropical mix with ingredients like banana, pineapple, kiwi, mango, and shredded coconut, or lean into the tarter side with a fruit salad consisting of Granny Smith apple, grapefruit, green grapes, cranberries, and decorative pomegranate seeds for a crunchy texture and pops of colour.
If you would prefer a sweeter dessert, go for banana, Fuji or Gala apple, plum, blueberry, and strawberry, add a bit of vanilla powder to the cane sugar, and use milk chocolate instead of the darker variety.