Best Summer Fruit Salads

My memories of summer include all sorts of fruity goodness. From sitting under a guava, mango or tamarind tree with “liberated” bootie to drinking coconut water right from the shell.

There are lovely breezy evenings, spent in the backyard of our tiny carriage house in Park Slope, sitting under a trellis housing a pretty rosebush. When it got too hot to cook indoors, we’d fire up the grill and we’d stay outside until dark.

The simple pleasure of enjoying cold slices of watermelon was enough to cool us off until bedtime.

I also have this great memory of a summer in Cape Cod, walking up from a friend’s house and picking blueberries on our way to the pond, and spending the day with the kids frolicking in and out of the water. Late in the afternoon, we sat and ate the bucket of blueberries (which were supposed to be for a pie or pancakes). Luckily, we were able to pick more berries on the way back to the house.

I also remember having a fantastic little salad at a café near Union Square made of micro greens,slices of orange, cranberries and blackberries, plump blonde raisins and nuts, and topped with raspberry vinaigrette. That was different…

Apparently, fruit salad lost its appeal in recent years and relegated to the uncool. I don’t get that. I love fruit. I especially love that we can get fruit year round, but that there are still plenty of seasonal offerings from semi-local farms.

There’s a new Pinterest board (the starter includes over 20 links with collections of recipes and ideas, beer pairings, and a link to a fantastic generator for wine pairings).

Remember that avocado, olives and tomatoes are actually fruit and pair well with other fruits. Fruit salsa goes well with grilled meats. You can grill some fruit (especially then stone fruits).

Sugar is rarely necessary. You can top with honey or syrup. Liqueurs and spirits are good for sauces. Any citrus action is always good action. Fruit likes herbs too (not just mint, but thyme, parsley, cilantro, and basil). Grilled fruits love Balsamic vinegar.

Most fruit have a good cheese that compliments it well, as well as a beer and a wine to chase it down.

Lemon, honey and Dijon make an awesome dressing! Yogurt and sour cream can serve as a creamy finish as well as a binder. Mascarpone and cream cheese and queso crema, feta and Boursin, and cottage cheese add different dimensions to the sweetness or tartness of different fruit.

You can make fruit salad crunchy with nuts. You can add quinoa or couscous. Fruit can be part of a pasta salad. You can freeze fruit into spectacularly beautiful popsicles. Fruit also loves bacon. Of course it does.

You don’t have to go totally retro to fruit in aspic—though I think those make for some interesting centerpieces. But neither do your fruit salads need be boring. Remember: fruit salad can mean far more than just throwing six different kinds of berries and some grapes on a bowl!