How to Make Fruit Salad From Scratch
How Long Does It Take To Make Fruit Salad?
Why Is Fresh Fruit Better Than Canned Fruit?
When you make fruit salad from scratch, you can avoid canned fruit, which contains added sugar. If you want to loose weight or at least not gain any more, you don't need added sugar in your fruit salad. Fresh fruit is sensual, delicious, healthy and filled with goodness and energy.
Having lived in the Andalusian countryside since 2001, I know, I am spoiled for choices when it comes to cheap, available fresh fruit, as all kinds of exotic fruit seems to grow around me: oranges, mangoes, apricots, grapes, kiwis and many, many others – some which existence I didn't even know about, when I first came to live here from Denmark. However, now the hard to get fruit or expensive fruit for me are berries like blackcurrant, blueberries and raspberries, which weren't hard to get in Scandinavia.
So your choice of fruit might be influenced by where you live and your budget.
Sharpen your fruit knife and let's do it!
Ingredients For Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 2 Bananas
- 10 Strawberries, big
- 20 Grapes
- 1 Orange, big and juicy
- 2 Kiwis
- 2 Apples
- 1 Mango
- 25 gram Dark chocolate, (It will bring a portion up to 111 calories (9 from fat))
Fruit Salad
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 1 portion | |
| Calories | 92 |
| Calories from Fat | 0 |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Carbohydrates 18 g | 6% |
| Fiber 2 g | 8% |
| Protein 1 g | 2% |
| Sodium 2 mg | |
| * The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA. | |
How To Make Fruit Salad From Scratch
- You can see all the ingredients to your right and in the picture above. You can of course swap some of the fruit in the recipe for fruit of your own choice, however, if you do so, be aware that the nutrition facts will not be accurate anymore.
- Take the peel of the bananas and cut them in half . Cut them lengthwise twice and finally cut them into slices. Put the banana pieces into a bowl of appropriate size or leave them on a cutting board until you are all done.
- Ten big, red strawberries add some colour to the dish. Cut the green tops off the strawberries and cut each strawberry into 4 pieces.
- The fresh grapes are each cut into 2- 4 pieces, according to their size. It's up to you whether you remove the seeds or not.
- Peel the big, juicy, orange and cut it into small pieces. You might want to peel it over the serving bowl as the juice from the orange prevents the other fruits like bananas and apples from turning brown.
- Peel the kiwis and cut them into small pieces. (See how to peel a kiwi in the video further down).
- Peel the apples and cut them in half. Do the same thing one more time, so it's easier to remove the cores. Finally cut the apple pieces into small pieces.
- Now you should have a delicious mango left and you might wonder how to peel and pit a mango? If so have a look at the video below - and it will all become clear. When you have done as shown on the video, cut the mango into small pieces.
How to peel and pit a mango
How To Peel a Kiwi
Chopped Fruit Ready to Be Mixed
The Benefits Of Dark Chocolate
Besides from adding a lovely flavor to the fresh fruit, dark chocolate has a few health benefits, when eaten in small amounts (max 20 gram of 70%+).
Dark chocolate:
- Amplifies the feeling of quality of life.
- Is a rich source of various vitamins and minerals due to its high content of cocoa.
- Can rectify the deficiency of magnesium, which is important to our muscle building, energy production, metabolism and the function of the nervous system.
- Contains a number of antioxidants that protect the body against diseases.
- Reduces the dangers of LDL cholesterol (also call "the bad cholesterol").
- Strengthens the immune system because of the phenols contained in it.
Coconut Flour Or Dark Chocolate?
By now you should have all your ingredients chopped up on your cutting board, like the picture above you, or already mixed in the process like the picture below.
An addition for the ones with a sweet tooth is a teaspoon of coconut flour sprinkled over your portion of fruit salad. Coconut flour contains no less than 61% fiber and 1 teaspoon of coconut flour contains only 15 calories, which would bring your dessert up to 107 calories.
If you want to make it extra special, you can always add a sprinkle of dark chocolate, which has various good qualities, when consumed in small amounts. (See "The benefits of dark chocolate" to your right). If you add 25 gram of dark chocolate into the whole fruit salad, your portion would be 111 calories.
Whether you spice up your dessert with dark chocolate or coconut flour or eat it natural, it's a great "in-between-meals-snack", when you are trying to keep your intake of calories down and it is a killer dessert, when you invite people for a meal.
Finished Mixed Fruit Salad
Fruit Salad With Or Without Topping
Calories
| |
|---|---|
Fruit salad natural
| 92
|
Fruit salad with coconut flour
| 107
|
Fruit salad with dark chocolate
| 111
|
Health Benefits | Fruit
- Oranges: Health Benefits, Nutritional Information
Learn about the potential health benefits of oranges, including lowering stroke risk, supporting heart health, reduced risk of leukemia and lower blood glucose levels in diabetes. - 8 Health Benefits of Strawberries
Strawberries are a nutritional powerhouse. Here are 8 health benefits of this delicious berry. - Health Benefits | Bananas
- What Are the Benefits of Eating Mangoes? | LIVESTRONG.COM
Mangoes have been part of the human diet for over 4,000 years. The mango tree grows in the tropics and produces juicy, nutritious fruits. People eat...
Facts About Fruit
Did you know that...
- 5 - 7 servings of kiwi a week could improve your wheezing ?
- bananas can reduce depression?
- mango has the highest beta-carotene level of any fruit?
- three or more servings of strawberries per day can decrease the possibility of contracting age-related macular degeneration?
- grapes may help prevent Alzheimer's and keep your cholesterol lower?
- oranges can lower high blood pressure?
- apples may protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis?
Read more to your right.....
Great Energy-Bomb At A Party
How Long Does Fruit Salad Keep?
Raw, cut fruit is always on its best on the day, you make it. Kept covered in the refrigerator it will be okay the next day, but after that it will not look inviting anymore.
If you want to bring more fruit into your daily life, you simply have to make portions that will be eaten in two days and then make a new batch.
In this way you also get to experiment with different mixtures of fruit. Remember to write yourself a note about which flavors you prefer together and which colors look the most delicious together.
© 2014 Dorte Holm Jensen
