How to make a good fruit salad

Living in Hawaii, we have the best mango and papaya. And you don’t know what mango and papaya really taste like until you’ve eaten them in Hawaii. With that said, the rest of our local fruit variety is lack luster, and it’s a challenge to make a good fruit salad. It isn’t just about taste. A good fruit salad needs to be just as appealing to the eyes and tantalize with the right combination of textures.

Ingredients

• Kiwi
• Clementines
• Blueberries
• Strawberries

Picking Fruit

• Two weeks in advance – select three (3) kiwis that are firm with a slight give.  Kiwis will store in the refrigerator well for 2 to 3 weeks.  Allow up to 3 weeks for sweeter kiwi.
• Up to two weeks in advance – have three (3) clementines stored in the refrigerator.  Clementines will stay sweet for a large window of time.  They are pretty sweet and juicy when you pick them up at the supermarket and say that way for up to 2 weeks.
• Up to 5 days in advance – select a small 8 oz. tray of blueberries.
• Up to 2 days in advance – select 16 oz. tray of strawberries.  Look for deep red color that goes all the way up to the stem.  Strawberries that look ripe or just slightly over ripe will be the sweetest.  Strawberries have the shortest shelf life of all these fruits so don’t buy them any more than 2 days in advance.

Prepping Fruit

• Kiwi – peel and cut cross-wise into 1/8 inch thick oval slices
• Clementines – just peel into individual sections
• Blueberries – wash thoroughly and dry with a paper towel.  Remove any shriveled or mushy looking ones
• Strawberries – wash and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices