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Spicy Cantaloupe, Plum, and Grape Salad

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on October 14, 2011

Time

30 minutes

Yield

Serves 4 to 6

Spicy Cantaloupe, Plum, and Grape Salad

Ingredients

3 ¼ cups chopped cantaloupe 2 tablespoons orange juice 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons sugar 1 small jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped fine2 plums, seeded and chopped2 cups seedless green grapes, halved

Before You Begin

To ensure ripeness, choose a cantaloupe that is fragrant and gives slightly when the stem end is pressed.

Instructions

  1. Combine 1/4 cup chopped cantaloupe, orange juice, water, sugar, and jalapeño in saucepan and mash with potato masher until cantaloupe breaks down. Bring to simmer over medium heat and cook until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Cool to room temperature and then strain, reserving juices.
  2. Toss plums, grapes, remaining cantaloupe, and reserved fruit juice in large bowl. Let sit 5 minutes. Serve.
Spicy Cantaloupe, Plum, and Grape Salad

Spicy Cantaloupe, Plum, and Grape Salad

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By America's Test Kitchen
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Time

30 minutes

Yield

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

3 ¼ cups chopped cantaloupe
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped fine
2 plums, seeded and chopped
2 cups seedless green grapes, halved

Ingredients

3 ¼ cups chopped cantaloupe
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped fine
2 plums, seeded and chopped
2 cups seedless green grapes, halved

Ingredients

3 ¼ cups chopped cantaloupe
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small jalapeño chile, seeded and chopped fine
2 plums, seeded and chopped
2 cups seedless green grapes, halved

Why This Recipe Works

A sugar syrup is the best way to sweeten and moisten a bowl of cut fruit, but can a quick fruit syrup do more? We wanted our fruit salad recipe to have fresh fruit flavor, and a big jolt from a quick fruit syrup. Adding potent seasonings like orange juice and jalapeño chile to the syrup as it cooked perked up the flavor. Mashing (with a potato masher) the juicy cantaloupe with a splash of citrus in the simmering syrup provided even more flavor to our fruit salad recipe.

Before You Begin

To ensure ripeness, choose a cantaloupe that is fragrant and gives slightly when the stem end is pressed.

Instructions

  1. Combine 1/4 cup chopped cantaloupe, orange juice, water, sugar, and jalapeño in saucepan and mash with potato masher until cantaloupe breaks down. Bring to simmer over medium heat and cook until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Cool to room temperature and then strain, reserving juices.
  2. Toss plums, grapes, remaining cantaloupe, and reserved fruit juice in large bowl. Let sit 5 minutes. Serve.

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