Celebratory confetti fruit salad – a beautiful, healthy dessert

Finely diced ripe fruits are combined with a spicy, zesty dressing to create a glorious confetti fruit salad. It’s a dazzling fruity celebration in every mouthful!

We eat fruit salad pretty much every day, so coming up with a way to make it different and exciting can be a challenge. But with Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for Trees, just around the corner, I needed to get my thinking hat on.

A celebration of the trees

Tu B’Shevat is traditionally celebrated by eating as many tree-grown products – typically fruits and nuts – as possible, from apricot to yuzu. (Sorry, couldn’t find a fruit beginning with Z). It’s customary to aim for 15 different types, because Tu B’Shevat is the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat. In 2019 it starts at sunset on 20 January and finishes the following evening.

In the past I’ve made beautiful fruit platters, dried fruit and nut compote, and even multi-fruit smoothies. This year I wanted to keep it simple with a delicious fresh fruit salad. But how to make it more special than our usual, daily bowlful?

Strategy, and tactics

I decided on a two-pronged approach.

Firstly, the chopping. Our standard fruit is cut into fairly large chunks. Each mouthful contains only one kind of fruit – one chunk of apple, one segment of orange etc. For my festive Tu B’Shevat fruit salad I decided to dice the fruit into tiny pieces, so that a single spoonful would contain a fabulous cocktail of fruits. A dazzling fruity celebration in every mouthful.

Secondly, our usual daily fruit is unadorned. However this special Tu B’Shevat version is further enhanced by some extra flavours – fresh mint, lime, maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon. Three out of four are even tree products. Win!

Confetti fruit salad!

The teeny tiny pieces of this finely chopped fruit salad reminded me of multi-coloured confetti, hence the name – confetti fruit salad. You could also probably call it rainbow fruit salad, or even rainbow confetti fruit salad. Either way, it’s totally delish.

When to eat confetti fruit salad

Obviously, this fruit salad is perfect for Tu B’Shevat, which is when I first made it. Especially if you’re holding a Tu B’Shevat seder!

However it’s also a refreshing and colourful dessert for any special occasion. It’s perfect for Pesach, when simple desserts are the order of the day. And it’s also a wonderful recipe to pull out whenever you want a light and flavourful flourish at the end of any festive meal.

Fruit salad – choose your fruits

Feel free to use different fruits to make this tasty salad – I would have loved to use kiwi for the colour but I’m allergic to it. Pears, mangoes, papaya, fig… there are loads more tree fruits and I’m sure they would all be delicious. And if it’s not Tu B’Shevat you can also add melon, pineapple, berries… the list is endless!

Just keep the overall quantity of fruit about the same, and don’t forget the mint, lime and cinnamon for a truly fabulous and exciting flavour.

If you’d like more information about choosing fruits (and why fruit salad is healthier than a smoothie – yes really!) click here.

Serves 3-4.

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📖 Recipe

Confetti fruit salad

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Finely diced ripe fruits with a spicy, zesty dressing. It's a dazzling fruity celebration in every mouthful!

5 from 9 votes

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Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings 4

Calories 149 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1½-2 dessert apples (I used braeburn)
• 2 nectarines
• 2 plums
• 2 tangerines or satsumas
• handful fresh cherries
• handful grapes
• 3-4 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
• 5-6 fresh mint leaves + extra to garnish
• zest and juice of a lime
• good pinch cinnamon
• 1-2 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)

Instructions

 

• Core the apple and cut into 5-6mm (¼ inch) dice. Place in a large bowl.
• Remove the stones from the nectarines and plums and cut into small cubes like the apple. Add to the bowl.
• Peel the tangerines/satsumas. Separate the segments and cut each on into several small pieces. Add to the fruit in the bowl.
• Pit the cherries and cut each one into 8-10 pieces. Cut each grape into 8. Add to the bowl with the pomegranate seeds.
• Finely chop the mint leaves and add to the fruit with the lime zest and half the juice. Add the cinnamon and maple syrup and give everything a good mix. Taste and add more lime juice if desired.
• Spoon into dishes, garnish with mint, and serve. 

Notes

You can substitute honey for the maple syrup, or just leave it out altogether – the fruit is naturally sweet!

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Confetti fruit salad

Amount per Serving

Calories

149

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

1

g

2

%

Saturated Fat

 

1

g

6

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Sodium

 

12

mg

1

%

Potassium

 

404

mg

12

%

Carbohydrates

 

37

g

12

%

Fiber

 

5

g

21

%

Sugar

 

30

g

33

%

Protein

 

2

g

4

%

Vitamin A

 

710

IU

14

%

Vitamin C

 

23

mg

28

%

Calcium

 

35

mg

4

%

Iron

 

1

mg

6

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keyword fruit

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More fruity dessert recipes

If you’d like more recipes using fresh fruits, how about

• goats cheese crostini with griddled apricots, basil and honey
• plum and almond crumble cake
• watermelon and berry salad with basil-mint sugar 

There’s also a wonderful selection of fruity desserts from across the web. They’re all perfect for your Tu B’Shevat celebrations.