I know South Africans will probably think it’s silly that I submit something as common as a fruit salad recipe! However, ever since we immigrated to America, I realized we have been taking a good bowl of fruit salad, for granted. I learned making good fruit salad from my mother and mother-in-law. All the fruit must be chopped into small pieces, and then mixed together with granadilla pulp and finally, squeezing the juice from a couple of oranges over it. I am drooling thinking of the aroma of those ingredients as you mix it together.

So, when we moved to America I was quite shocked when I ordered fruit salad at a restaurant. I was surprised to even see it on a menu but very happy. Then the bowl of ‘fruit salad’ came. Huge pieces of cantaloupe, pineapple, halved strawberries, and grapes. What??? Of course, when in Rome do like the Romans do and accept it that you are in another country now. But very soon I was serving ‘real’ fruit salad to my American guests and getting huge complements.

I explained to them that the idea behind the chopped fruit is that you get a piece of every fruit in every scoop.. in your mouth! The combination is heavenly.

When they said, “Oh, you just chop and add whatever fruit you would like? Like cantaloupe and grapes and…” I stopped them. “No, the fruits must complement each other. The combination of Apple, Pineapple, Bananas, Papaya, Oranges and granadilla’s compliment each other perfectly!”