Crisp apples, juicy pears, and vibrant pomegranate arils partners beautifully with Fuyu persimmons and hazelnuts in this Autumn Fruit Salad recipe. A light vinaigrette of kombucha, hazelnut oil, ginger, and maple syrup dresses the salad.
Jump to Recipe | What's in it? | Tips | Variations
What's in it?
Fall fruits include apples, pears, and other pomes as well as pomegranates, figs, grapes, and persimmons. This salad partners pears with apples, Fuyu persimmons, and pomegranate arils. To this, you'll add a few chopped hazelnuts for crunch, and a lively dressing made with kombucha tea, ginger, and hazelnut oil.
Tips
Like any salad, this recipe is easy to make and takes less than five minutes in the kitchen. The most painstaking process is thinly slicing the fruit, which you can do with a mandoline. With that in mind, there are a few things you want to keep in mind when you make it.
- Use a mandoline. A mandoline helps you cut the fruit into even and consistent thin slices. If you don't have a mandoline, you can use a sharp knife, or you can chop the fruit instead of slicing it thinly.
- Use Fuyu persimmons. You'll find two primary varieties of persimmon in the grocery store: Fuyu and Hachiya. Fuyu persimmons are squat and round with a passing resemblance to an orange tomato. These taste sweet and are ready to eat as soon as you buy them. Hachiya persimmons, which are fat and elongated, are astringent and need to ripen to complete softness before they're ready to eat.
- Serve the salad right away. The apples and pears will soften, lose their crispness, and begin to brown quickly, so make the salad right before you plan to serve it.
Variations
Swap the kombucha for apple cider vinegar. Kombucha has a flavor reminiscent of apple cider vinegar - tart with notes of black tea. If you don't have kombucha, use apple cider vinegar instead or try a squeeze of orange juice.
Chop the fruit instead of slicing it thinly. A mandoline makes preparing the fruit super easy, but if you don't have one, you can chop the fruit into bite-sized pieces instead.
Swap walnuts or pecans for hazelnuts. Hazelnuts give the fruit salad a creamy, buttery flavor and pleasant crunch. Their sweetness also partners well with apples and pears, but if you don't have any, you can substitute another nut such as walnuts, pecans, or even pistachios.
Use extra virgin olive oil instead of hazelnut oil. If you don't feel like picking up a bottle of hazelnut oil to make the vinaigrette, you can always substitute extra virgin olive oil instead.
Emily says
This salad looks so beautiful. I plan to make it next fall just for that reason!
Christine says
Jenny, I made this yesterday to take to our family's Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious AND gorgeous. I used apple cider vinegar instead of kombucha and added a generous pinch of salt to the dressing. I'll be making this salad all winter long using different combinations of fruit. Thanks for this genius recipe!