USN DELICACY: HOW TO PREPARE FRUIT SALAD

Fruit salad is one of those wonderful gifts of nature that you should consume occasionally. There are lots of fruits in Nigeria, in portharcourt where I live; you will find fruit sellers at every corner of the streets.

If you look closely it wouldn’t be hard to find your favorites. As for me, I think water melon comes top on my list of favorite Nigerian fruits; followed by pineapples, oranges, pawpaw, mangoes, apples – in that exact order. I also love sour sop, the problem is that it is always hard to come by.

I may not be able to share the full benefits of water melon here; you should be a member of my church. The RRN took time few Sundays back to really unfold the wonder-working powers of water melon.

Nevertheless, I think you should try a full plate of fruit salad often; at least once in a week. It improves both psychological health and body fitness.

This page is completely about fruit salads, I have spent the last few months exploring healthy Nigerian foods, I have also written a couple of article on the subject which you have probably read if you are a member of the Nigerian Kitchen. I believe that healthy foods are vital for the development and health of the body cells; and we are as healthy as our body cells.

So what am I saying in a nutshell?

I am saying that fruits (as long as they are natural and fresh) remain top on the list of healthy foods of all time. Starting from apples to sour sop, water melons, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, garden eggs, they all play specific roles to our optimum health.

If you can flash back to the days of our forefather, you will remember that they lived longer because they consumed mostly fresh foods from the farm and lived in less polluted environment. The story is not the same anymore, today we live in polluted environments and eat processed, nutrient-drained foods.

We feed our kids with indomies, biscuits, ice cream and think less of fresh foods. Some of us don’t even know that Akamu (pap) is way better than custards. Anyway, that is talk for another day.

The plate below is not that of a complete fruit salad mix, just how I serve it occasionally. The complete fruit salad is what we would be talking about here anyway.

A plate of fruits salad should comprise of at least five of your most favorite fruits, for me, it is usually, water melon, oranges, pine apples, grapes, bananas and sometimes mangoes and apples are also added.
Did I forget to mention pawpaw? It is also an important part of fruit salad.

So here goes.

• Pine apples
• Pawpaw
• Water melon
• Oranges
• Grapes
• Banana

All of these fruits can be used at any proportion; it all depends on what is available to you.
Peel off the back of the pawpaw, pine apples, oranges and grapes, this part should be easy. Then go ahead and chop the pineapples/paw paw/water melon to mouth-size bits with a kitchen knife and a neat tray.
Squeeze out the grape/orange juice and set aside in a cup. Fruits salad is just a mixture of all those fruits together, and then just pour in the orange juice, serve with a spoon… and serve chilled.

If you have banana, you should also dice and serve alongside the rest of the fruits.

Like I did state above, fruit salad is just a combination of different fruits, as much as you can find in your location, just make sure they taste nice when combined together, and yes, you should try that often. It does not just improve your health and vitality, it also tastes Nice.

 

All Nigerian Foods.