This Argentinean Fruit Salad Requires a Spoon—and a Straw

That feeling changed after trying Gaby Melian’s Ensalada de Frutas from Gaby’s Latin American Kitchen.

In most fruit salads I’ve eaten, the fruit is chopped up, and maybe dressed with a simple syrup or a bit of honey for a touch more sweetness and moisture. The fruit salad Gaby grew up eating and re-created for this cookbook is still chock-full of a variety of chopped fruits, but it’s swimming in an ice-cold juice.

After chopping your fruit and tossing it in ½ cup of lemon juice to prevent the fruit from turning brown, you add fresh-squeezed orange juice and water for a total of 4 cups of liquid—plus plenty of ice cubes to keep your fruit salad as cold as possible. The result is a fruit salad that’s refreshing and even slurpable. 

With Christmas falling during the middle of summer in Argentina, where Gaby grew up, she frequently ate it as a holiday dish. We doubt you’ll regret making this fruit salad any time of year, but it certainly isn’t out of place on a hot day. 

See below for the recipe (just be sure to make this fruit salad the day you want to eat it—it’s at its best within a few hours of making it).