Fall Fruit Salad Recipe

I love the Thanksgiving meal as much as anyone else if not more, but I admit, it’s heavy. It needs something light, bright and frankly refreshing. I know fruit salad isn’t traditional but my mother often decorates the holiday table with seasonal fruit that makes the table pop with color, and I was inspired by her tablescape to make a salad using Fall fruits. The main fruit in the salad is Fuyu persimmons. Fuyu persimmons are the rounder ones with bright orange skin and a very firm crunchy texture. They are incredibly sweet and have a very unique flavor. Hachiya persimmons are delicious as well, but too soft to use in this recipe. 

While Summer fruits are probably my favorites, Fall fruits are pretty compelling too. In addition to persimmons, I used grapes and pomegranate which each provide a pop of sweetness along with acidic and sweet tangerines. Apples and pears are in season too, but they have a tendency to brown. Kiwi fruit is another fruit that is in season starting in October in California. The surprising thing about this fruit salad is how sweet it is! I thought I was going to make a dressing from honey and lemon, but the salad really didn’t need any additional sweetness. In fact, the salad needed more acidity.

In Italy balsamic vinegar is used on strawberries and so I tested it with the salad and it was a hit. You could serve the salad without any dressing, but I think the vinegar helps to balance the sweetness and adds a pleasant tangy quality. The fruit salad will keep at least a day or two, but dress it as close to serving as you can. It’s good on its own or served with ice cream or yogurt.

Fall Fruit Salad
Serves 8-10

Ingredients

4 Fuyu persimmons
3 tangerines
3 kiwi fruit
1 pomegranate
1/2 lb grapes, red or green
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Remove the stem, peel and cut the persimmons into small bite-size pieces. Peel the tangerines and cut them horizontally into rounds, and then into quarters. Peel the kiwi fruit and cut into round slices, then cut each round in half or quarter. Remove the arils from the pomegranate and wash and remove the stems from the grapes.

Combine all the fruit in a bowl and toss with the balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy!