Too Much Fruit Salad

As the name promises, this is fruit salad on a generous scale, the kind you make for a potluck, a brunch crowd, or a week of refreshing snacking. It’s a riot of colors and textures: juicy pineapple, melon, citrus segments, peaches, banana, and kiwi all tumbled together.

The dressing isn’t a sugary syrup or whipped topping. Instead, apricot nectar plus the syrup from the stewed prunes and maraschino cherries lightly bathes the fruit, keeping it bright and fresh rather than heavy.

A couple of small touches make it prettier: slice the kiwi into rounds so the seeds form pinwheel patterns, and add the banana knowing it softens, so cut it last.

The one rule is patience. It really does need an overnight chill so the colors bleed together a little and the flavors marry into something greater than the sum of its fruit.

Kitchen Tips

• Use a non-metallic bowl. The acidic citrus can react with metal and pick up an off taste.
• Keep enough nectar to just cover the fruit so it stays moist and doesn’t brown.
• Add the bananas last, or even just before serving, since they soften and darken fastest.
• It genuinely needs the overnight rest, so make it a day ahead.

Variations

• Swap in whatever’s ripe: berries, grapes, mango, or pear all work.
• Use orange or peach nectar in place of apricot.
• Add a splash of orange liqueur or a squeeze of lime for grown-up brightness.