Tips In Making Summer Fruit Salads

The summer season is the perfect time to forego snacking on fattening chips and desserts and go for the healthier options—fruits.  Everyone would agree that summer fruit salads are so much tastier because of the sheer abundance and variety of fruits.  Then, too, fruits are cheaper during summer and seem to be juicier, bigger and sweeter.

Here are a few tips to guarantee fruit salads which are everything you want them to be.

Spot the best ripeness. 

Fruits are at their best at their peak ripeness.  A little beyond ripeness and they’re soggy.  A little before ripeness and they lack that lovable sweetness.  Be sure you pick fruits just at the right ripeness.

Use no more than 5 kinds of fruits. 

Keeping the number of fruits to this minimum makes prepping easy and quick.  As we know, fruit salads have to prepared quick and served right away to keep them from getting soggy.  Besides, you can better discern each individual fruit when you keep the variety to a minimum.

Use fruits that are in season. 

Fruits that are in season simply are the best, sweetest and juiciest.  You can sprinkle fruit preserves like raisins or use canned fruits like pineapple chunks but to make the most out of summer, let the bulk of your salads consist be the season’s freshest fruit offerings.

Keep the dressing simple.

The stars of your salads are the fruits and not the dressing.  Let the fruit taste shine through and never let the dressing overpower it.  Add in just a bit of lemon juice to give a charming tartness and to keep the fruits from oxidizing or turning brown.  Sprinkle just enough sugar to even out the lemon and draw out the juices from the fruits.

Vary the colors.

Salads should be colorful and not monochromatic.  You would do well to use contrasting colors such as reds and greens than use different hues of the same color family. 

Avoid raspberries and blackberries. 

These berries have a way of bursting and staining the other fruits around them, greatly reducing the visual appeal of your salads. 

Be careful of apples. 

If you’re going to use apples, chop them up quick and mix them in right away with acidic fruits or some lemon juice to keep them from turning into an ugly brown.

Leave some of the fruits unpeeled. 

This will increase the fiber content and give textural appeal to your salads.

Chill your salad for no more than 30 minutes. 

Fruits have a way of gradually losing their crunchy texture and fresh taste beyond this time.