Every year on the second night of Rosh Hashanah we make a blessing on a new fruit. Years ago it was easy to find something new when there was a constant influx of new exotics. There was the year of star fruit, lychees, passion fruits, dragon fruits….. You get the picture. This year as I combed the local farm market for pomegranates, dates and apples I noticed a stall with fresh local papayas and bananas grown in Santa Barbara. The papayas were red inside with beautiful fragrant flesh. The bananas were a different shape than I had seen before, short, wide and square like. A rectangle shape. Old but New! They were ripe a few days later when they turned yellow. The flesh was firm and the banana had a fresh sparkling taste with a hint of green apple, fantastic. My search for new fruits for 5776 was over.
Now I realize that this visually stunning salad would be good any time of year as a starter , palate cleanser or part of dessert buffet.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
4 to 6 Mansana Bananas
2 red Papayas
½ fresh pineapple
½ large Mineola tangelo
½ lime
½ cups fresh pomegranate arils (seeds)
1/3 cup small fresh mint leaves
Peel bananas and slice in half lengthwise. Cut each half in half again and dice bananas. Place in a large mixing bowl. Peel papayas, remove seeds with a teaspoon, carefully scraping them out. Dice papaya. Peel and dice pineapple, add to bowl. Squeeze tangelo over salad, then squeeze lime. Add Pomegranate arils and mint leaves. Toss just before plating so bananas don’t get mushy and mint leave don’t get bruises. Gently toss just before plating. I put this in nice glass ice cream dishes so you could see the pretty colors. Delicious and refreshing.
It could be served for dessert on top of a scoop of coconut sorbet.
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