Let me introduce you to a fruit salad that everyone will love. We call it Triple Fruit Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing, but everyone else calls it “the best summer fruit salad” because, well, it really is. Whenever we bring it to a party or potluck, it's always the first thing to go. People can't resist the winning combination of pineapple, kiwi and strawberry.
Enjoy more freshness of summer season with us Summer Peach Salad.
Why our recipe?
- Just three fruits that make the preparation quite easy!
- The most delicious simple dressing that lets the fruit shine.
Did anyone else grow up thinking that fruit salad was just a bunch of different types of fruit mixed together in a bowl? The dressing was of no kind and always way too much cantaloupe! Cantaloupe in fruit salad makes everything else taste like cantaloupe. No thanks. It's the perfect blend of our favorite summer fruits topped with an amazing lemon poppy seed dressing. Yum!
Material notes
- Pineapple: Be sure to use fresh. Test for doneness with a gentle tug on a leaf. If it comes out easily, your pineapple is ripe and ready to eat.
- Strawberries: Slice or quarter them. If they are big, I slice them. If they are more normal sizes, I quarter them. For those occasional small strawberries, halvsies are a good option.
- Kiwi: I like to cut them in half and then use a spoon to remove the flesh, or you can use a paring knife to slice the ends and peel them.
- Lemon: This will brighten the flavor of your fruit. It's like a secret weapon for fruit salad.
- sugar: If you cannot adjust with sugar, you can replace it with equal amount of honey. The added sweetness is about balancing the acidity of the pineapple and the tamarind.
- Poppy seeds: Well, if you feel like an ant, I'll let you go. But I love a good poppy seed dressing!
sugar
Depending on their maturity, fruits have different levels of natural sugars. When working with acidic fruits like pineapple and strawberries, it's common practice to add a sweetener to give a more balanced flavor. It's a good idea to taste your fruit before preparing the salad to see if it might be on the sweet side or if it's on the more acidic side. Adding sugar or honey to the more acidic pineapples and strawberries will help balance the flavors.
How do I cut a pineapple?
Not sure how to cut a pineapple? I don't blame you. Those pokies can be a beast of fruit. Pineapple cutters seem like a great idea, but pineapples come in all kinds of shapes and their cores are of different thicknesses so it doesn't always work in practice.
Place the pineapple on its side on a large cutting board. Cut about 1/2 inch from the top and bottom (removing the big green stems above).
Stand the pineapple upright. Use a sharp knife to cut away the rough, poky skin. Try to keep as much meat intact as possible, but remove all that nasty skin.
The core of the pineapple is usually hard and inedible. Feel around one end of the pineapple to see where that hardness starts. I usually use a dull butter knife to make a little indentation to outline the core. If you've cubed your pineapple, cut out the large chunks leaving the hard core behind, then cut into chunks. If you are making rings, you will cut the slices and remove the core from each one individually.
Storage instructions
Keep in fridge Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container. The fruit will start to turn despite the lemon juice, but we still manage to enjoy it as leftovers for up to three days. Make sure you don't use overripe fruit when making, as this will determine how long it will last.
