Fruit Salad

Ripe, beautiful and perfect as-is.

Can we forget about the food pyramid for a moment? Can we ignore the fact that we’re supposed to be eating both fruits and vegetables? Because for a few short, glorious weeks in late May and early June in California, it’s all about fruit.

Ever since last weekend when we picked 14 pounds of Bing and Rainier cherries and nine pounds of peaches (not to mention the usual farmer’s market haul of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries), we’ve happily eaten fruit salad with every meal.

Now, in lesser months with imperfectly ripe produce, you can doctor your fruit salad up with dressings, but for right now? The beauty is in the straight-up simplicity of the fruits mixing together. And we haven’t even gotten to peak melon season yet!

But let’s say that it’s a little bit out of season for fruits in your part of the world. No worries. You can make a killer fruit salad with a little help from some fancy dressings. Just stir the ingredients until blended or dissolved, pour over the fruit and serve chilled.

Citrus Dressing

2/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
Orange or lemon zest, to taste

Brandy Dressing

3/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Life’s a bowl of cherries.

Results

The Tiny Kitchen Assistant doesn’t get to try the brandy dressing (yet), but judging by his obsessive love of all things fruit, I have no doubt that he’d enjoy it. After all, this is the child who sat on the couch watching baseball and ate an entire bowl of pitted cherries — with a fork, trying not to make a mess.

Tags: berries, bing cherry, cherries, fruit, kid friendly, leftovers, no-cook, rainier cherry, side dish