Making Fruit Salad Night Before: Do’s & Don’ts
Can fruit salad be made ahead of time? This is a question that many homemakers ask. The answer, as with most things in life, is…it depends. There are a few factors to consider when trying to answer this question. In this blog post, we’ll discuss those factors and give you some tips on how to make your fruit salad ahead of time. So, let’s get started!
Have you ever wondered whether you can make a fruit salad and then put it in the fridge and store it until you are ready to eat it?
Fruit salad is delicious and healthy, but many people find they don’t want to eat lots at once – and yet you have to cut a lot of fruit open to make a varied fruit salad, which tends to result in large quantities being created.
Fruit tends to go brown when it is left for too long, but you can make a fruit salad in advance if you take steps to minimize the oxidization process. This will mean making a syrup or juice that you can pour over the fruit to protect it from oxidizing.
Can You Make a Fruit Salad in Advance?
You can make a fruit salad in advance, but you will need to protect the fruit from browning, or your fruit salad will quickly become mushy and unappetizing. You probably know from experience that if you leave fruit after cutting it, it turns brown and soft very quickly.
This is because an enzyme within the fruit reacts when it is exposed to oxygen, and starts breaking the fruit cells down. It pulls oxygen into the fruit, and this makes the tissues turn mushy and change color.
To keep fruit fresh, you need to protect it from oxygen. It is initially protected by its skin, but this will obviously disappear when you cut the piece of fruit open, so you need to take other steps to protect it. You can sometimes wrap the fruit up, but this may not be practical for fruit salad.
Most fruit can be protected by covering it in a substance that will absorb the oxygen instead – such as citric acid. If you dip fruit slices in lemon juice, vinegar, or other substances that will soak up the oxygen, the fruit will last for much longer before it starts to turn brown.
You can also sprinkle the fruit with “Fruit Fresh“, which helps prevent premature browning as well.
Therefore, if you are making fruit salad in advance, you will usually need to pour some sort of liquid (usually a fruit juice of some kind) over it. This will slow down the oxidization process and keep your fruit fresh.
Does All Fruit Work When Making a Fruit Salad in Advance?
If you are going to make fruit salad in advance, it’s best to avoid certain fruits because they will not keep well. Things like:
- Blackberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries (plus many other berries)
are examples of fruits that will quickly turn mushy and go moldy if they are left in a fruit salad. Bananas should also be saved for the end.
Most fruits will be fine if they are covered in liquid, so your fruit salad can still have a great deal of variety. Oranges, apples, pears, kiwis, pineapples, mangoes, and many other fruits will be completely fine to use, and will retain their texture, flavor, and color for at least a day.
If you want to include the softer fruits like berries, consider keeping them separately in your fridge and then adding them to the bowl when you are ready to eat the fruit salad. This will keep them fresh and crispy for as long as possible. Another example of a fruit that can be left in the fridge is bananas.
Most people also recommend leaving melons out until you are serving the salad because melons have a strong flavor that will affect the other fruits if they are left combined for too long. Slice melon and add it last so that your other fruits retain their taste. The taste will be enhanced when you know how to choose the right melon to be mixed.
How Do You Make a Syrup for Fruit Salad?
You can make a fruit salad syrup using commercial fruit juice, or the juices from the fruits as you cut them up.
- Simply put the fruit into a colander and stand this in a larger bowl to collect the juices as they trickle out of the fruits.
- Add some orange juice and simmer it with some lemon juice and sugar in a small pan.
- Cook on a low heat until the juice thickens into a syrup, and then allow it to cool completely.
- Pour it over the fruit and stir it so that all the fruit is coated.
- Stir gently if you have delicate fruits in the bowl; you don’t want to damage them.
- The quantities of lemon and sugar will vary depending on your personal tastes and the other components of your fruit salad.
If you are making a fruit salad with lots of sweet fruits, you might prefer to add a little more lemon and a little less sugar. However, if your fruits are very tart, you should add a bit more sugar to help counteract this and ensure that the fruit salad tastes amazing.
You can make other versions of this syrup, too; some people mix orange juice with honey, and then pour this across. If you are using tinned fruit, add some of the juice from this to the syrup. The syrup doesn’t need to be thick in order to work; as long as it coats the fruit, it will help.
How Else Can You Ensure Fruit Salad Keeps Well?
There are two other keys to keeping fruit salad fresh: firstly, put it in the fridge, and secondly, cover the container. Cold, covered fruit will not oxidize nearly as quickly as warm, exposed fruit.
You can add a lid, a plate, or some plastic wrap to the top of your fruit salad bowl. This will minimize the oxygen that touches the fruit and keep the ingredients fresher.
Don’t leave fruit salad at room temperature, even if it is covered; it will quickly start to go off. It is best to put it at the right temperature so that the freshness of the fruits and salad dressing will remain as it is.
How Long Will Fruit Salad keep?
In general, fruit salad will start to go mushy after about 24 hours. You can still eat it safely after this time, but it won’t taste as good or have such a crispy texture.
More Fruit Salad Resources:
- Tropical Fruit Salad with Whipped Cream
- Easy Cool Whip Fruit Dip Recipe
- Fruit Salad Dressing
- How to Make a Classic Fruit Salad (And What Fruits to Choose)
- Three Ingredient Cream Cheese Fruit Dip with Marshmallow Fluff
Fruit salad can be made ahead of time as long as you make a syrup to ensure that the fruit stays fresh and does not oxidize. Cover the fruit in this syrup and then put a lid on and store it in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
