Name: Honeydew, Raspberry, and Nectarine Salad
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 3 1/4 cups chopped honeydew melon; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 2 tablespoons water; 2 tablespoons sugar; 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint; 2 nectarines, pitted and chopped; 1 pint fresh raspberries

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 lemon juice and mint to the syrup as it cooked perked up the flavor. Mashing (with a potato masher) the juicy honeydew with a splash of citrus in the simmering syrup provided even more flavor to our fruit salad recipe.

Before You Begin

To prevent the raspberries from breaking down, toss the salad gently in step 2.

Instructions

Combine 1/4 cup chopped honeydew, lemon juice, water, sugar, and 2 tablespoons mint in saucepan and mash with potato masher until honeydew 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.

Toss nectarines, raspberries, remaining honeydew, remaining mint, and reserved fruit juice in large bowl. Let sit 5 minutes. Serve.