Categories: Fruit, Usenet 
      Yield: 1 batch 
  
      1    Pineapple, ripe 
      1    Melon, ripe 
      1 lg Grapefruit 
           -(preferably pink) 
      3    Oranges 
     11 oz Maraschino cherries 
           -(1 large jar) 
      3    Bananas, ripe 
      3    Kiwi fruits 
      1 lb Stewed prunes, 
           -in heavy syrup 
           -(1 standard can) 
      3    Peaches, sliced 
           -(or use 1 lb stewed 
           -apricot halves in 
           -heavy syrup) 
      1 c  Apricot nectar 
  
  Peel and section the grapefruit and oranges.  Remove the seeds and 
  membranes. Cut the sections into bite-size pieces and dump into a big 
  non-metallic bowl. 
   
  Peel and core the pineapple (making sure to get all the eyes), cut the 
  flesh into bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl. A typical whole pineapple 
  is usually too much, so you might want to reserve about 1/3 of the flesh to 
  eat by itself. 
   
  Peel and cut the melon, bananas, peaches and kiwi fruits and add to the 
  bowl. The kiwis should be sliced horizontally (so the seeds make pretty 
  circular patterns). 
   
  Add the stewed prunes, syrup and all.  This will moisten everything.  Add 
  the maraschino cherries and the syrup they came in (check for stems). Add 
  the nectar, making sure there is enough liquid to cover the fruit. 
   
  This is the hard part.  Put it all in the refrigerator, and don't eat any 
  until tomorrow.  It really needs to sit overnight for all the colors and 
  flavors to blend together. 
   
  NOTES: 
   
  *  Many people think of fruit salad as that disgusting stuff that comes in 
  a can made from diced plastic fruit and heavy syrup. This is more like what 
  it is supposed to taste like, although some people might claim that my 
  addition of syrup makes this into fruit cocktail instead of fruit salad. 
   
  Whatever you call it, it's especially good in the summer.  I make it every 
  couple of months (usually in vast quantities, even though there are only 
  two of us, hence the name). It rarely lasts very long, regardless of how 
  much I make. Yield: Makes too much. 
   
  *  Some people might object to the use of maraschino cherries, they are 
  processed with sulfur dioxide, which isn't really good for you.  I like the 
  way they taste, so I allow myself this one debauch. 
   
  *  Unless you can find good-quality fresh fruit, it is better to use 
  canned. This is especially true of pineapple, canned pineapple is not as 
  good as good fresh pineapple, but is much better than a bad fresh one. For 
  the melon, I've used honeydew, cantaloupe and casaba with good results. 
  Watermelon is interesting, but has a very different texture from the 
  others.  More important than the actual variety is that it is ripe. 
  Unfortunately, New York supermarkets only seem to sell the kind of melon 
  that goes from rock-hard to rotten without passing through ripe. Bananas 
  are best when they are just starting to get brown speckles. 
   
  *  My mother uses orange juice for the liquid, but I prefer nectar.  The 
  combination of the prune and cherry syrups give it a nice color. Sometimes 
  I add a bit of lemon juice for tartness. I've experimented with cherry 
  liqueur, but didn't really like the results. 
   
  *  Use whatever fruit you find fresh in the market.  The invariant part is 
  the grapefruit, orange and maraschino cherries. 
   
  : Difficulty:  easy. 
  : Time:  30 minutes preparation, 1/2 day waiting. 
  : Precision:  approximate measurement mandatory. 
   
  : Roy Smith 
  : Public Health Research Institute, New York, NY, USA 
  : {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy 
   
  : Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust