A combination of blueberries, blackberries, apples, watermelon, raspberries, red grapes, and strawberries create this red white and blue fruit salad for all of your patriotic parties this summer!
1smallseedless watermelonor 1/2 of a large watermelon
8applesoptionally reserve 1 for making stars
1/2yellow honeydew melon
4cupsstrawberriesstems removed
2cupsraspberries
2cupsblueberries
1cupred grapes
1cupblackberries
lemon juicefor soaking apples. 1 tablespoon per 1 cup of water
Instructions
Wash all fruit and allow them to dry.
Cut up watermelon, apples, and melon into small squares. Using your discretion, cut the strawberries in half, quarters, or just with the tops removed based on size.*If not serving immediately, soak apples in a lemon juice water mixture for at least 10 minutes after slicing. Use 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice per 1 cup of water for soaking apples.
Start with blueberries and blackberries at the top left of the flag to get an idea of size, and then place a small layer of red, white, red, white, and red fruits in a horizontal line for spacing. Then keep layering until all fruits are gone or you have filled your dish to your liking.
Finally, cut 1 apple (on the horizon, stem up) to use with your star cookie cutter. Place the cut stars on top of your blue layer to complete the flag.
Notes
We used apples and yellow honeydew melon as the "white" portion of this fruit flag. Other options for the white portion would be white melons, such as canary melons or golden honeydew, if available. Pears will also work, but will likely need to be tossed in lemon juice as well.
To dress - try a mixture of orange juice, pineapple juice, and honey which is what we use in our classic fruit salad recipe. Lime zest, lime juice, and honey is another delicious combination!
Preparing ahead - you may want to keep some of the fruits separate from each other to keep the liquids from seeping together. Watermelon is one I would suggest keeping separate from the other fruits, and I would hold off on slicing the apples until the day of to prevent them from browning as much as possible. You can either prep and slice all of the fruits, store them separately in air-tight containers in the fridge, and assemble it the day of OR prep and assemble all the fruits in the serving dish aside from the apple and the watermelon, then store it tightly covered in the refrigerator overnight.
Leftover fruit salad will keep well if kept covered in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.