Summer Berries Fruit Salad

Summer Berries Fruit Salad

One of my favorites things about summer is the good prices on all the berries.  During the summer months you get the best sale prices on Strawberries, Blueberries and other summer season berries.  When our family when to the beach for Memorial day and to celebrate two of our son’s birthday’s I had made a fruit salad and the family just loved it.  Fresh fruit salad during the summer is great because you get to enjoy lots of great fruits that are fresh and not out of a can or swimming in syrup.  Safeway recently had and continue to have awesome summer berries on sale so when I found Strawberries on sale for $2.99 for a two-pound container and Blueberries were three pints for $5 or $1.67 a pint.  At those prices I knew another Summer Berries Fruit Salad was in the works.

 

When shopping for berries in the summer I like to make sure they are fresh and sweet.  One thing I like about our local Safeway Supermarket is that they sell fresh local produce so I know I am supporting local farmers.  That also means I don’t have to get up early to get to the farmers market.  When making a fruit salad you can out just about anything into the mix as long as your family would like it.  For example I always put Pineapple in mines.  It reminds me of my birth country Trinidad and the kids all love the fresh Pineapple.  Other times I may put in some watermelon.  Our Memorial Day salad included watermelon.  I used a melon baller to scoop small balls of watermelon for the fruit salad.  My dad loved that the most.  This time I changed things up a bit with some input from my husband and daughter.

New to our fruit salad mix this time was Raspberries and Kiwi.  I forgot Watermelon when I made my run to Safeway that day so I didn’t have it for this salad.  I didn’t even realize it until I was done and noticed it had room in the serving pan for fresh fruit.

I like to make my fruit salad in layers, it just works better for us that way.  You can however mix as you go so when it’s time to serve your guests will receive a nice mix of fruit.  I start by washing all my grapes and removing them from the stem.  I remove any bad grapes during this process and then pat dry to remove excess water before adding to my serving dish.  Next I wash the blueberries the same way, to remove bad berries and excess water.  My next step this time was peeling and slicing up the kiwi.  Next time I think I’ll put it on top because kiwi smashes up easily.

My next layer was the Strawberries and Raspberries.  I washed the berries to make sure they were clean.  Make sure remove excess water from the Raspberries because water can get inside the hallow opening of the berries.  Cut the top of the strawberries and then cut into quarters, smaller berries can be cut into halves.

My final step was the pineapple.  If you’ve never peeled a fresh pineapple before be prepared to work and to clean up afterwards.  The first step is making sure you have a very sharp knife.  Next cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple.  Then cut off the rough skin from around the pineapple, cut the peeled pineapple in half.  Take the first half and cut out the core of the pineapple, repeat with the second half.  Slice and cut each slice into two pieces.

Fresh pineapple that are nice and ripe has lots of juice so make sure you have a rag or paper towels close by to clean up the counter to use a cutting board for quicker clean up.  The fruits I used are just a few of the options for fruit salad.  Some people like to include oranges, watermelon and other melons are great in fruit salad, cherries, blackberries and so much more.

From now through July, 14th, Safeway shoppers in the Maryland area can enjoy super sale specials on berries, grapes and watermelon.  They even offer sale pricing on organic berries for shoppers who prefer organic fruit.  So head out and pick up some of your own berries and other fruit to make you own Summer Berries Fruit Salad.  Your family will enjoy the fresh fruit, and it’s a healthier alternative to junk foods and sugary sweets for a snack time option.

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