Colorful: Tropical Fruit Salad with a Hint of Mint

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What I love about fresh fruit and vegetables is the lush palette of rich colors they come in. It's like a gorgeous kaleidoscope, each twist creating a gleaming new pattern and each pattern illuminates the gloomy in a whole new and exciting way.  

I have always been a sucker for colors and in my younger years could spend hours twisting, turning and shifting a kaleidoscope, finding perfect satisfaction in the multitude of patterns. Today, although I could still sit for hours twisting Soeren's kaleidoscope, I get my fix for colors at the Farmer's Markets. Seeing the colorful fruit, vegetables, breads, cheeses and flowers provides soothing comfort to extremely dull winter days.

And on such gloomy days, when the skies seem to only have shades of dull and drab grays, I go to the market. There I am greeted by cheerful yellows, bright oranges and ravishing reds. Walking down the rows of the several stalls, each turn I take brings a completely new set of colorful patterns. Fruit and vegetables in all shapes, sizes and colors piled up high all waiting to be picked.

I never can resist and I cannot remember that I have ever come back empty handed from the market. Even if my fridge is bursting full, my temptations of all I could make with the produce in front of me always takes on the upper hand.

This fruit salad adds a lovely vitamin kick to the day. Besides the fact that it looks beautiful with all it's lovely bright yellow, orange and pink tones, almost all the ingredients are organic. There are organic mangos, papayas, pink grapefruit and oranges, only the baby pineapple was not. I use the fresh juices of the grapefruit and oranges to provide my dressing adding a touch of lavender honey and chopped mint to give an explosive taste.

For me fruit salads should not be a mushy pulp of too many fruits. As the saying goes "Too many cooks spoil the broth", my saying goes "too many fruits spoils a good salad." I always pick 3-5 types of fruits for my fruit salad. This is more than enough and will offer a wonderful harmony of flavors. Adding too many types of fruit overkills the flavors of a fruit salad only confusing the taste-buds as to exactly what it is one is currently chewing on. I also like to set a theme when preparing a fruit salad. For this salad, I chose "tropical" as my theme and stuck to fruits that pair well with each other. The flavors of mangos, papayas and pineapples blend perfectly with each other and the tangy aroma of the citrus fruits complements the entire salad wonderfully. A touch of mint adds a refreshing note and the pistachios the crunch.


Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.

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1 mango - chopped into cubes
2 papayas - chopped into cubes
1 baby pineapple - chopped into cubes
2 oranges - filleted - juice reserved
1 pink grapefruit - filleted - juice reserved
1 tablespoon honey - use a lightly flavored honey like lavender or eucalyptus
Few mint leaves - chopped
Handful of pistachios - chopped

Optional:
Low-fat crème fraiche


Method

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Put all the fruits into a large metal bowl. In a separate bowl pour in the reserved orange and grapefruit juice. Add the honey and whisk until incorporated.

Pour over the fruit and toss well. Sprinkle with the mint leaves and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so that the flavors and aromas can infuse with each other.

To serve, simply spoon into bowls or glasses and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. If using the crème fraiche add a small dollop on top. Serve chilled.


Verdict

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Always a pleasure and always enjoyed anytime of the day. I always make larger portions of this fruit salad as all of us really enjoy it. Soeren enjoys it best for breakfast sprinkled with granola and topped off with yogurt. Tom digs into it in between meal time as a healthy snack and as for me I cannot resist adding a scoop of pistachio ice cream for a special treat while watching Grey's Anatomy!

You might enjoy these fruity desserts too:

ApricotClafoutis02 Apricot Clafoutis
FigsCherryCaramel 03 Figs In Cherry Caramel
GrilledPeach 01 Grilled Peach with Eucalyptus Honey Yogurt and Roasted Almonds
PersimonHoney Yoghurt 03 Persimmon Honey Nut Yogurt Verrines

 

I am sending this over to Andrew at Spitoon Extra who is this month's host for Waiter There's Something In My .... Salad. Enjoy the extra vitamins Andrew!


Reminder!

One pot + many ingredients = one-dish dinner! That's you challenge this month. I am looking for innovative and creative one-dish meals. These can be casseroles, cooked in a crockpot, in a pressure cooker or in a baking dish. Whatever you are using you need to stick to the one cooking dish. So, come on over to February's mingle with your favorite One-Dish Dinners.

You'll find all the necessary details to this month's Monthly Mingle here.

Deadline: March 10th, 2008

 

Don't forget to send me your links to your fresh, crispy, juicy winter produce. Eat Fresh is a seasonal event, which attempts to bring people to share their weekly fresh produce with each other. So, all you need to do is take a picture of your weekly fresh vegetables and fruit, post it on your blogs, send email to blogmeeta@gmail.com and you will get an invitation to join our growing Eat Fresh list.

Deadline: March 31st, 2008



All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

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47 comments:

  1. such beautiful pics. very very pretty!

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  2. Beautiful colours Meeta - I love mint with a fruit salad. Amazingly the mint plant outside our back door that was sickly all summer has kept growing really well through the winter.

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  3. Beautiful colors! I love a good fruit salad and your looks great!

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  4. Looks tasty! I'm also all about the fruits and am a sucker for whatever new "exotic" fruits I might happen to stumble across. I can't wait for summer when more of the fruit seasons start peaking again...

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  5. I also forgot to mention that I'm probably the only person in the world who has tried to grow mint and managed to kill it. I feel that failing to grow what is essentially a weed that will take over any garden requires a special talent, lol.

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  6. That salad looks just gorgeous. I'm a huge fan of mint, but all my mint is under the snow right now.

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  7. The salad looks colourful. i like the addition of pistachios to the salad.

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  8. I so very agree with you on the "too many fruits spoiling a salad"....Lovely bowl of tropical fruits...great colours....haven't ever thought of adding pistachios in a salad....something that I'd like to try!

    Excellent pics..especially the colour coordinations :)

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  9. What a beautiful fruit salad! I should think about planting some mint this year in my garden...

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  10. how do u get such good pics. u have an eye for color. the first pic looks like a cover page of some cookbook. wonderful

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  11. Pistachios always look glamorous through your lens, Meeta.

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  12. Meeta! I already love fruit salads, now I'm an addict! With honey and pistachios.... You won my heart. :)

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  13. gorgeous colors meeta, I got a taste of spring in this cold, cold day :)

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  14. That's such a cheerful sight on a dreary winter day!

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  15. What a great and healthy and tasty salad. Beautiful and vivid pics. I adore them.

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  16. Hi everyone! I knew you would love this one. I really appreciate your wonderful comments and feedback on the pictures. I too liked this set very much because of the colors.

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  17. That photo is inspiring Meeta! I hope it inspires Spring to arrive soon too...

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  18. Gorgeous Meeta! Fruit at least hints of summer and sun and mint always makes things sparkle. Mint grows all year in my back yard here and I tend to forget to use it. Thanks for the reminder.

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  19. I am always envoius of how you can make simple food look so sexy!!:) looks really refreshing Meeta!

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  20. Couldn't agree more with Mansi, you make everything look so perfect and gorgeous..not to forget inviting :) The salad is very colourful and looks delicious...loved the combo of fruits.

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  21. This looks gorgeous! I love the addition of the pistachios, delicious. And now, I'll have to start thinking of something for your Monthly Mingle!

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  22. that looks so fresh, you are an expert with cooking and photography , i think you know that already :D.
    thanks for sharing Meeta. you can slo send this to Marta , check out details on here -http://italianintheus.blogspot.com/2008/02/fresh-produce-of-month-6-roundup.html

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  23. gorgeous gorgeous dish. inquiring mind wants to know: where's the tequila?

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  24. Hi Meeta, wonderful photo.. So colorful! Love it!

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  25. Lovely pics.. i always loved ur phtography in flicker, blog everthng.Salad luks very tempting too.. thnxs for sharing

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  26. That is one colorful salad Meeta... almost too pretty to eat... :)

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  27. Thanks so much for your comments. These colors are really shouting for spring summer to get here fast aren't they. Glad I was able to share them with you.

    Bee, I downed the tequila pure before taking the pictures. LOL!

    Pooja, thanks for the tip but I have something else planned for Marta.

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  28. Very beautiful - and I couldn't agree more: I'm always amazed at the color of fruits such as oranges, peaking in season in wintertime, when everything else is a little dark :)

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  29. looks like spring has already arrived looking at those gorgeous bowl of fruit salad. i just loved the whole setting meeta.

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  30. My mint is coming up enough that I could use some. And I just bought tropical fruit. Yah for me!

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  31. I'm finishing my list of good adjectives... what can I say? Brilliant!!!! I love it and it makes me want to go right now to the grocery shop, not even wait for Friday's market! :D

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  32. So colorful and fresh. I love the colors of the fruit, looks delicious. Your pictures are amazing, as usual. :-)

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  33. Thats such a colorful picture meeta. Loved it...

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  34. What a gorgeous fruit salad & delicious options for topping it off!

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  35. I'm with you on colours. I'm always surprised how people over here only seem to *wear* colour when it's sunshiney, when they are so sorely needed in the depths of winter.

    Beautiful salad.

    j

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  36. This salad looks like my kind of dinner when I am alone! Lovely flavors melding together.

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  37. It looks like spring has arrived at your blog!! The pics are beautiful... very colourful!

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  38. Yes, go out and buy the fruit and make yourself a big bowl of this. I am not joking when I tell you that since very next day after i made this salad we've been having wonderful warm weather. LOL! Thanks for all your comments and feedback!

    Jasmine, I know what you mean - I have a gorgeous red coat especially for winter and wear it when the weather is really depressing - lifts my spirits always - I stick out like a sore thumb but I even get extra smiles from people.

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  39. For those people who are buried under snow, this photo will make their hearts sing! For those of us who have had rain, rain and more rain, this photo makes us smile, and then smile some more!

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  40. I love your fruit salad. Awesome!

    Paz

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  41. The fruit salad looks so yummy! I absolutely love your photographs! Kudos to you for taking such pains to make food so glamorous!

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  42. Thanks you guys. Appreciate your comments. Hope you all enjoy the fruit salad!

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  43. What cheerful looking fruit salads. Love the explosion of colour. I'm a big fan of fruit and vegetable displays at markets too!

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Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hugs
Meeta