by Rex Trulove

Created on: September 19, 2008

Like so many people, our entire family has always loved fruit salad. The best ones we've had, though, are made with fresh fruit rather than the canned variety. It takes a little more effort, but the taste makes it all worthwhile.

The following recipe serves a family of four, despite the quantity it makes, because it seldom lasts longer than a day. People just keep going back for more. The best thing to note is that the listed fruit is as a guideline. You can add fruit not listed, or not use certain fruit if it is a kind that you don't like or which is unavailable. Think of this as a base recipe.

Ingredients:

3 medium Bartlett pears, cored
4 black plums, pits removed
1 large or 2 small cantaloupe, seeds removed
2 pounds (1 kilo) seedless watermelon
1 pound seedless grapes
12 large strawberries cut in fourths
4 bananas, peeled (they should be very ripe)
2 peaches or nectarines, pitted
1 ripe pineapple, peeled and cored
1 quart whipped cream, whipped (homemade is best, store bought will work)
1 cup sugar or 1/2 cup honey

Cut the fruit in relatively large pieces (about 1 inch or a half centimeter) and put them into a bowl. Mix thoroughly and add the sugar or honey and the whipped cream, stirring well again.

Serve cold if possible.

This salad is great on hot summer days, and the burst of flavors from the combined fruit makes it even suitable in the winter. In fact, our family loves to have this as part of the Thanksgiving feast (not in quite this quantity). It is easy to adjust to most tastes, and a person can even add set Jell-O, diced up, if they wish to.

It is also a great meal stretcher for when guests drop in, and since almost everyone loves it, it will be welcome by those guests.

Give this fruit salad a try. People will love it so much; they may even forget that it is very good for them, since it is packed with vitamins and minerals.

As a final added tip; this is a great dish to serve during the cold and flu season. The vitamins and minerals all work to help keep a person from falling prey to either kind of virus.

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