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02/16/2000 Archived Entry: "Basic Fruit Salad"

You’ll pardon me if I repeat myself once in a while. There is so much information and so many recipes on this web-site now that I can’t keep track. If my search engine were better, I could easily find anything by plugging a keyword in the blank and clicking. But the search engine doesn’t work very well. I get the service for free, so what can I expect?. I suppose it’s time to do better on that score.

I was, for instance, trying to find the phone number of the garlic lady from Seattle yesterday and the search engine did me no good. I plugged in “garlic,” “Seattle,” and “Pike” (as in Pike Place Market), and nothing came up for the garlic lady. I fortunately remembered, however, that it was a Diary entry from last August (when I went on a West Coast trip), so I managed to locate her phone number by clicking on the Archive for August 1999. I needed more garlic, you see. Unfortunately, her supply is gone and we now have to wait for next August, when this year’s crop is harvested.

I’m bemoaning this poor search engine situation mainly because I have fruit salad on my mind and I don’t think I have shared my basic recipe with you yet on Food Maven. Well, I can’t find it anyway. You can find this formula in both What To Cook When You Think There’s Nothing In The House To Eat, which has just been republished after being out of print for several years, and Soup Suppers (the book has appetizer, salad, and dessert chapters, besides all the main course soup recipes). I was sorely tempted to put it in “Naples At Table,” too. It is, after all, an Italian recipe; what is usually called Macedonia di Frutti or just Macedonia, after the ancient land where many different people mingled. Get it?

This recipe may be on this web-site somewhere, but I couldn’t find it, and as you can see by how many times I’ve published it, I definitely think it is worth repeating. It is truly one of my basics of life, particularly in the winter. At this time of year there isn’t much in season to add to the basic orange or other citrus, apple, and banana formula, but the winter version is a delight.

Fresh Fruit Salad
Serves 6

This is more than a recipe. It is an all-purpose outline to all fruit salads. I could as much give a firm recipe for fruit salad as I could give a firm report on the weather in 2,001. Who knows what will be in season when you want to make fruit salad? I'll make a bet you can get oranges, apples and bananas, but that's it. The rest is up to Mother Nature, your whim and your budget.

1 to 1 1/2 cups orange juice
1 red apple, peeled or not, as desired
1 large ripe pear, peeled or not, as desired
2 eating oranges, peeled
2 small or medium bananas, peeled
Sugar to taste
Mandarin or orange liqueur (optional)
Other fruits in season and to taste

Pour the orange juice into a large mixing bowl. You will cut the other fruits into the juice.

Core the apple and pear and cut them into 1/2-inch pieces. Put them into the juice.

Working over the bowl, segment the orange and cut each segment into three or four pieces. Let them drop into the bowl.

Slice the banana lengthwise in half, then into 1/4-inch thick half-round slices. Add them to the salad.

This is but a mere base to which any number of fruits may be added: Grapes, kiwi, pineapple, cantaloupe or other melon, mandarins and tangerines, grapefruit, papaya, mango, and, in summer, soft fruits such as berries, peaches and nectarines. Add berries at the last minute. If you increase the amount of fruit dramatically, increase the amount of orange juice, or supplement it with cranberry juice. You might also add bruised mint leaves or minced crystallized ginger (which will melt into the syrup eventually), or a touch of vanilla extract, or a shot of Campari, both for flavor and color.

Mix well and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Taste and add sugar if desired. Stir in liqueur, if desired.

Note: The salad will keep nicely in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. After that, the fruit loses its shape and attractiveness and the syrup created by the orange juice and bananas gets thicker. But it still tastes great.