What a fantastic weekend of great weather, food and friends! I hope you all spent some quality time with someone special and soaked up some sunshine- I thought it was June it was so warm! I was in the mood for a fresh and light fruit salad that would be the perfectly refreshing desert on a warm afternoon. Only problem was, I got all the way home from the store and realized I forgot the mint I needed to make my fruit salad! With no time to go back to the store, I decided to improvise with what I had. I love fresh herbs with fruit and I had a whole bunch of fresh basil on hand for another recipe. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect substitution, the flavors were so amazing, this will definitely become my go to combination for fruit salad, Enjoy!

Basil-Lime Fruit Salad (click for printer friendly version)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1 medium size fresh pineapple cut into chunks (about 4 cups)
• 2 mango’s peeled and cubed
• 1 pound fresh strawberries quartered
• 1 carton fresh blueberries
• You can substitute any fresh fruit you enjoy such as Kiwi’s, Raspberries, Blackberries, Guava, etc.

Directions:

1. Combine sugar and water in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring often until sugar is fully dissolved, about 1-2 minutes.
2. Remove sauce pan from heat. Add lime zest and basil, stir and set aside to cool.
3. Once the sugar mixture is completely cool, strain syrup through a mesh sieve into another bowl and discard solid pieces of basil and zest.
4. Combine all fresh chopped fruit in one large bowl and drizzle with basil-lime syrup. Mix to coat fruit completely.
5. Refrigerate and serve. Garnish with a few pieces of freshly chopped basil.