Make the best of summer fruit while it’s in season. Here’s a tangy fruit salad from Bruce Tretter, and complete instructions on preparing it, with photos.
One of the best things about summer: ripe fresh fruit that explodes with summer sweet flavor. Wow! Here’s a refreshingly cool salad that combines the crisp summer flavors of ripe peach, plum, cherries and blueberries with banana. The salad can be served either as is or with an optional light dressing, as pictured above, made simply with lime juice, plain yogurt and either coconut cream or your favorite jam.
Preparation Time: 7-10 minutes
Ingredients
(for 2)
Salad
1-2 Handfuls Fresh Blueberries
1-2 Handfuls Fresh Cherries
1 Ripe Plum
1 Ripe Peach
1 Banana
Your Favorite Dried Fruit
Optional Topping
1 Lime
2-3 Tablespoons Coconut Cream or Favorite Jam
3 Tablespoons Plain Yogurt
Equipment
Bowl
Strainer or Colander
Cutting Board
Sharp (Paring) Knife
Tablespoon
Cherry Pitter
Cup
Small Jar (for optional topping)
Can Opener
1. Pull the stems from 1-2 handfuls of fresh cherries.
Rinse the cherries in a strainer or colander, and…
…remove the seeds with a cherry pitter.
2. Rinse 1-2 handfuls of blueberries, making sure…
…to remove the stems from any berries, if necessary. Then…
…add the blueberries to a bowl with the pitted cherries.
3. Rinse a peach and plum, and prepare them as shown.
Peach – Start by cutting peach in half lengthwise around the seed. Then…
…twist the peach apart,…
…remove the seed,…
…cut the peach halves into slices about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) wide, and…
…cut the slices in cross section into pieces also about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) wide.
Plum – Cut the plum in half around the seed.
Make a cone-shaped cut around the seed and…
…carefully pry it from the plum half like this. Then…
…cut the plum halves into slices about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) wide, and…
…cut the slices in cross section into pieces also about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) wide.
4. Peel the banana and…
…cut it into the salad in slices about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) wide.
5. Add a handful of your favorite dried fruit (I’m using a packaged mix of dried fruit, but raisins, dried cranberries or any dried fruit will work fine).
6. Make the optional topping by cutting a lime in half (you can soften the lime to make it easier to squeeze by rolling it on a hard, flat surface like a counter or tabletop with the palm of your hand as shown in the insert photo).
Squeeze the juice from both lime halves into a jar.
Add 2-3 tablespoons of either coconut cream (left) or apricot (or your favorite) jam (right) and…
…3 tablespoons of plain yogurt.
Stir with a spoon until…
…all the ingredients are uniformly mixed together as shown, and…
…pour the topping over the fruit salad.
7. Stir the fruit salad until…
…the ingredients are well mixed together and…
…serve.
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Images courtesy of Bruce Tretter