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Gourmet Minted Fruit Salad in California Riesling
Riesling is a crisp, dry white wine with a crisp acidity. It comes from California, Austria, Germany, France, and Australia, amongst other areas, and it has citrus, lemon, petrol, and mineral aromas. Not all Rieslings are dry so check the bottle for the word "kabinett" to make sure it is.
The following minted fruit salad recipe uses Riesling because its citric flavors contrast with the sweetness of the fruit and it gives the dessert a sophisticated flavor. Do not overcook the wine in this gourmet minted fruit salad recipe or it will take on a darker color and an unpleasant salty flavor.
You can use different fruit if you like. Plums, peaches, or black grapes would all work but avoid anything hard like apple or anything, which goes soggy like banana, just for texture reasons. Ripe melons are better than hard ones, for this fruit salad in wine recipe. You can also use different varieties of melon if you prefer. The mint gives the dessert a fresh taste and the mint is beautiful with the fruit.
Classy Grape and Melon Salad in White Wine
Ingredients -
⅓ cup white sugar
½ cantaloupe melon, in very small cubes
½ honeydew melon, in very small cubes
1 cup seedless green grapes, quartered
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 ¼ cups dry Riesling
10 quartered strawberries
10 scoops vanilla ice cream
Crushed pistachios or chocolate sprinkles, to garnish
Fresh mint sprigs, to garnish
Preparation:
Add the sugar and wine to a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring it so the sugar dissolves. Take the saucepan off the heat and stir in the mint.
Combine the fruit in a big bowl and pour the wine mixture over it.
Toss, cover, and chill for 8 hours.
Divide the fruit in wine mixture between 10 small dessert glasses and top each one with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, some strawberry quarters, a sprig of fresh mint and some crushed pistachios or chocolate sprinkles.
Serve immediately.
(Serves 10)
Wine Suggestion:
Wine Suggestion for Fruit Salad Recipes
Since Riesling is used in this fruit salad recipe, it makes sense to serve the remainder of the bottle on the side. Rieslings range from fruity to dry and, even though the dessert is sweeter than the wine, it will still echo the same flavor so it will be a good pairing. You could serve a dessert wine instead if you wanted, or a sweeter Riesling.
Photo Description:
If you are looking for chic desserts, this recipe is fantastic. The combination of fruit, wine, ice cream, and mint might sound very simple and in fact it is a simple combination with each flavor complementing the next. These colorful, cute desserts are perfect for serving after a heavy meal and these are sure to impress your dinner guests. Most people have tasted fruit salad before but not everyone has sampled fresh fruit marinated in Riesling.
A Few Fruit Salad Ideas
Not many desserts are as refreshing as fruit salad recipes and you choose from basic, easy fruit salad recipes or more elaborate ones, featuring tropical fruits marinated in a wine or liqueur based sauce. A fruit salad can be made with just one or two kinds of fruit or you can combine all your favorites to make something which is a feast for all the senses. A colorful fruit salad with black grapes, red strawberries, green melon, orange tangerine segments, yellow banana and more colors besides offers a nutritious dessert solution which is also bursting with flavor.
You can theme your fruit salad by only using crunchy fruits (apples and pears, for example) or soft ones (perhaps peaches, grapes, melon, and banana). You can use tropical fruits such as pineapple, dragon fruit, and papaya or classic favorites such as apples, raspberries and tangerine segments.
What Else to Add
As well as the fruit itself you can add ice cream or whipped cream to the finished fruit salad or you might like to garnish the dessert with nuts or chocolate chips. What about adding some jello to give it a different consistency? There are so many fruit salads to choose from and you can adapt any fruit salad recipe to make it unique. Adding a little California wine to the mixture is always a good idea, since this gives the fruit salad a gourmet touch and a wonderful taste.
Learn More About Wine>> California Wine Country Mini Articles are spread through out the site get a list of articles at this link.
