Elegant Fruit Salads

With picnics, potluck dinners, and BBQs galore this summer, I usually bring a fruit salad.

Fruit salads are easy, healthy, and require no cooking at all (which is perfect when the weather outside is steamy!). You might think that a fruit salad is fairly plain, but when you mix fresh, seasonal fruit with complementary homemade dressings, they become an elegant dish.

I put together a couple of my favorite recipes below. Many of your favorite fruits will work in these recipes. The pièce de résistance is in the dressing.

Berry Fruit Salad with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

Ingredients:

Fruit: Your favorite berries. I used one 16oz container of fresh strawberries (hulled and cut in half), 1 pint of blueberries, and one 6oz container each of blackberries, and raspberries.

Dressing:

1 tablespoon 10 year aged balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
Fresh mint, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine all of the fruit (except the raspberries as they tend to get mushy), vinegar and sugar.

2. Stir gently.

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

4. Add raspberries just before serving.

5. Serve the fruit with a garnish of fresh mint.

Colorful Fruit Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing

Ingredients:

Fruit: Your favorite fruits (strive for different colors). I used Honey Kiss melon chunks (orange) along with strawberries (red; hulled and cut in half), kiwis (green; about 5, peeled and cut into half-slices), and blueberries (blue/purple).

Dressing:

3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint, leaves

Directions:

1. Place all of the fruit into a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the honey, lime juice, zest, and mint.

3. Right before serving, pour the dressing over the fruit and toss gently to combine.

Which salad would you choose to make/eat? Let us know on the FreshDirect Facebook page or via Twitter.