A vibrant and wonderfully aromatic Christmas fruit salad with exotic fruit like persimmons, pineapple, and mandarins.
An aromatic winter or Christmas fruit salad full of flavorful fruit like persimmons, papaya or apples, clementines, grapes or kiwis, lychees, or whatever other fruit you choose to have.
An easy Christmas dessert, light and delicious, perfect after a heavier Christmas lunch or dinner. You could also make Cotttage Cheese with Pineapple, Stewed Plums, or Roasted Pears.
What fruit to use?
- Ideally, any kind of winter fruit.
- What I always use are persimmons - I actually never make this salad if I cannot find any persimmons, I adore them.
- I also use clementines or mandarins, one or two kiwis, and some lychees (either fresh or canned is fine).
- The rest changes according to what I find or what I feel like eating. If I can get papaya, then I buy papaya; if I cannot find it, I take apples instead.
- Physalis is always great, but not always available. I add them when I have them. If not, I make this Christmas fruit salad using more grapes or more clementines.
- Or pineapple; if you can get a nice and sweet one, then pineapple is always a great choice!
Fruit salad dressing
The dressing I used was some leftover from the Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomelo and Cinnamon that I had made the day before, one of Yotam Ottolenghi's wonderful recipes from Plenty More. (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab).
He suggested using the leftover marinade for a fruit salad, and obediently, I did. And it was absolutely fantastic.
Making dressing for a fruit salad might sound like too much work. After all, the fruit is always sweet and aromatic, and a simple fruit salad doesn't necessarily require any kind of dressing. Most of the time, I can get away with just sprinkling a little sugar on top or adding a little elderflower or mint syrup to the salad.
But do take the extra 3 or 4 minutes to make this special dressing; you will love it! It is so spicy and aromatic and fits everything so perfectly.
It really takes only minutes to make: just bring a tiny amount of sugar, water, cinnamon stick, and star anise (the Amazon links open in new tabs) to a boil (1-2 minutes), dissolve the sugar for 1 minute, and add the lemon juice. That's it! And it is perfect!
More winter desserts
Recipe
Christmas Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- ยผ cup granulated sugar 50 g
- ยผ cup water 50 ml
- 1 cinnamon sticks
- 2 star anise pods
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 medium papaya or 1-2 apples Note
- 1 persimmon
- 1 bunch of small seedless grapes or 2 kiwis
- about 10 lychees
- about 10 physalis
- 2-3 small clementines
Instructions
- Syrup: Bring the sugar, water, cinnamon, and star anise to a simmer and cook for 1 minute, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Let cool down while preparing the fruit. When cool, remove the cinnamon stick and the star anise.ยผ cup granulated sugar/ 50 g + ยผ cup water/ 50 ml + 1 cinnamon sticks +2 star anise pods + 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Chop fruit: Peel, when necessary, and chop the fruit into bite-size pieces. Cut the clementine segments into 2 or 3 smaller pieces, depending on size. Everything should be roughly the same size.1 medium papaya or 1-2 apples + 1 persimmon + 1 bunch of small seedless grapes or 2 kiwis + about 10 lychees + about 10 physalis + 2-3 small clementines
- Combine: Place everything into a nice glass bowl and mix gently with the cold dressing. Let the salad sit for about half an hour before serving.
- Adjust taste: Mix again and adjust the taste with some more lemon juice if necessary.
jenny says
ahhh! I love all the fruits in this salad! Especially lychees and persimmon.
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
Fresh and good for you!