Christmas Fruit Salad

A festive and colorful holiday fruit salad filled with apples, pears, persimmons and pomegranate seeds tossed in a spiced syrup.

There’s nothing better than a bowl of fresh fruit to break up the assault of overly rich foods we so joyful indulge in around the holidays, but all too often fruit salads are treated as an afterthought.  They’re simple and refreshing but not terribly interesting or festive.

With the bounty of summer stone fruits and berries long behind us many fruit salads during the rest of the year contain little more than some bland chunks of honeydew or cantaloupe and a few red grapes, so it’s little wonder we don’t often think to add them to our holiday dinners and brunches.  But this gently spiced Christmas fruit salad may have you re-thinking their potential.

This holiday fruit salad is filled with crunch, color and seasonal spices.  On a brunch or dinner table filled with rich casseroles and a parade of desserts it offers a welcome opportunity to pause and refresh our palates.

It’s a wonderful mix of contrasting tastes and textures with crisp apples, juicy pears, sweet persimmons and tart pomegranate seeds, but it’s the spice infused syrup that takes it from simple to special.

What's in a holiday fruit salad?

I’ve used Fuyu persimmons (the squat round ones) for their firm flesh and sliced them thinly along with two kinds of pears and the prettiest pink inside apples.

The syrup calls for vanilla, cinnamon and star anise, which adds a sweet and spicy complexity with just a hint of licorice to the fruit and is a natural complement to the dishes you’re probably making anyways around this time of year.

Happy Holidays!

More holiday recipes:

• 15 Gluten-Free Holiday Soups, Salads and Sides
• 10 Gluten-Free Fall Desserts

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Yield: 6 Servings

Christmas Fruit Salad

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

A festive and colorful holiday fruit salad filled with apples, pears, persimmons and pomegranate seeds tossed in a spiced syrup.

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Ingredients

• ¼ cup/60ml raw honey or (light maple syrup for vegan)
• ½ cup/120ml filtered water
• 1 star anise
• ½ vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
• 1 cinnamon stick 
• 1 firm pear, thinly sliced
• 1 Asian pear, thinly sliced
• 1 medium apple, thinly sliced
• 2 Fuyu persimmons, thinly sliced
• Seeds from ½ a pomegranate
• 1 teaspoon poppy seed to top (optional)

Instructions

1. Bring the honey or maple syrup and water to a boil, along with the star anise, vanilla bean and cinnamon. Simmer gently over low heat for 5 minutes, then cover and turn off the heat. Let cool to room temperature. Strain out the spices and use immediately or store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
2. Meanwhile, place fruit in a large bowl and pour syrup on top. Toss gently. Top with poppy seeds and serve.

Recommended Products

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• 
  Spicely Organic Cinnamon True Sticks (Ceylon) 6 Count Jar Certified Gluten Free
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  Spicely Organic Anise Star Whole 0.10 Ounce ecoBox Certified Gluten Free
• 
  Frontier Co-op Poppy Seed Whole, Certified Organic, Kosher | 1 lb. Bulk Bag | Papaver somniferum L.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 110Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 2mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 4gSugar: 18gProtein: 2g

Nutritional information for recipes contained on this website, such as calories, fat, carbs, etc. are only estimates and are not guaranteed to be accurate.

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Sylvie

Sylvie Shirazi is the recipe developer and food photographer behind Gourmande in the Kitchen. For the last 10 years she's been making eating more healthfully easy and accessible with gluten-free, grain-free, paleo and vegan recipes that are free from processed ingredients.