24 January 2007

Winter Fruit Salad


Why is it I always think of fruit as a summer thing? If the recent California freezes weren't a reminder, many fruits reach their peak in the cold season. Every Christmas, courtesy of my uncle, a large box arrives on our porch full of beautiful ruby red grapefruits to sustain us through the frigid month of January. And just when I have succumbed to winter doldrums, with a Greenmarket of root vegetables in varying shades of brown and grey, bright persimmons beckon from deli displays.

I let the soft hachiya persimmons ripen to a water-balloon like state, then cut of the tops and eat the soft pulp with a spoon. Firm persimmons are great for making salsas and fruit salads. A fruit salad of persimmons, grapes, and pomegranates was positively jewel-like on my table. I imagine it would be the perfect thing on a brunch table, next to nice crispy waffles, or to put out after a nice lunch. Any variety of fruits would work, so I've simply offered some suggestions below.

Winter Fruit Salad (a sketch)

fruit suggestions:
chopped Fuyu persimmons
grapes
pomegranate seeds
citrus fruits (grapefruit, clementines, mandarin, navel oranges)
kumquats

extras:
orange zest
honey
chopped crystallised ginger

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

sounds delicious-great idea! I often crave fruit in the winter.

UmmBinat said...

I made this with chopped Fuyu persimmons, pomegranate seeds and navel orange slices without any pith, I added all your ideas for extras orange zest made it have a great fresh taste, I used unpasteurized local honey and adored the addition of chopped crystallized ginger which I rinsed a little. In my opinion, it would have been even better without the citrus I also don't think it needed the honey.