About our prepared fruit salads

Selecting and preparing fruit can be time consuming and often result in waste, particularly if fruit is not prepared when at its optimum level of ripeness. Our range of prepared fruit salads are an excellent time-saver in the kitchen. Only the best quality fruit at the correct level of ripeness is used, ensuring our product looks and tastes consistently great. All of our fruit salads are supplied in re-sealable tubs for easy handling and storage.

Hints, tips & chef's suggestions

Blackberries

Chef's suggestions:

• Lightly fold blackberries through stiff cream to get the best effect. Add some sugar and lemon zest and you have a simple mousse. Layer in a glass on top of some lightly crushed shortbread biscuits and top with a sprig of mint.
• For a delicious blackberry dessert idea, crush some ginger biscuits and add a little melted butter to make a biscuit base. Divide half of this into the bottom of 6 glasses. Blend equal quantities of mascarpone and crème fraîche, add 2 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Stir in 1 small tub of fresh blackberries so that they marble the cream. Pour this over the biscuits and top with the remaining biscuits.

Cherries

Chef's suggestions:

• Cherries have a sublime aroma and intense sweetness.
• Perfect bedfellows are rich ingredients such as chocolate, cream and alcohol; it's no surprise that perhaps the most iconic cherry dessert is the Black Forest Gâteau.

Plums

Chef's suggestions:

• Grill some seasoned halved plums, sprinkled with a few chilli flakes to serve with pork chops.
• Caramelise plums in a little butter and serve with a classic vanilla custard.

Raspberries

Tip: Raspberries taste best when served at room temperature; remove from the refrigerator in advance of serving. 

Chef's suggestions:

• Stir 2 tbsp of honey into a large tub of Greek yogurt, add lemon zest, raspberries and some crunchy granola cereal and fold through lightly. Spoon into glasses and scatter with a little more granola and fresh raspberries.
• A great idea for raspberries is an arctic cake. Slice a plain or Madeira sponge cake and use to line the base and sides of a loaf tin. Blend 1 punnet of raspberries with 2 tbsp sugar and the juice of ½ lemon. Allow a small tub of vanilla ice cream to soften a little then stir through the raspberry sauce. Spread the ice cream on top of the sponge and top with remaining slices and freeze. Allow to soften for 10 minutes before turning out and serving in slices with fresh raspberries.
• Raspberries are good combined with lemon. Top a lemon tart or cheesecake, drop them into the batter of a lemon drizzle cake or serve topped with hot lemon custard.
• Add raspberries to a really rich or sweet dessert to contrast flavours such as a sticky lemon tart or dark chocolate torte.

Redcurrants

Redcurrants offer a ruby red jewel-like sparkle to any dish. Their sharpness cuts through sweet or cloying desserts but they deserve more than to be used as a garnish.

Chef's suggestions:

• Half fill 6 cocktail glasses with a mixture of redcurrants, raspberries and blueberries. Melt a pack of raspberry jelly into 15fl oz of sparkling rosé wine. Add 2oz caster sugar and 1 tbsp orange juice. Allow to cool then pour over the berries and chill until set. Serve with a spoonful of crème fraîche on top and garnish with a mint leaf.

Rhubarb

Incredibly versatile with many culinary uses, rhubarb adds contrasting sharpness to cakes and desserts, and is the perfect pearly pink filling for pies and pastries. It also sets well in jams, is piquant in pickles, offers colour to sauces and can even be used to make wine.

Chef's suggestions:

• Slowly bake rhubarb with a large spoonful of chunky marmalade, then use to top a creamy rice pudding.
• Delicious as the base for a crumble, adding hazelnuts and oats to the topping.

Strawberries

Strawberries are naturally high in vitamins and minerals, low in calories, naturally sweet, and easy to prepare.

Tip: Strawberries taste best when served at room temperature; remove from the refrigerator in advance of serving. 

Chef's suggestions:

• Dip the tips of strawberries into molten chocolate and leave to set on a piece of baking paper.
• Adventurous gourmets can sprinkle a few drops of balsamic vinegar or add a dusting of freshly ground black pepper over strawberries to enhance the flavour.
• Toss strawberries into some lightly stewed sweetened rhubarb for a perfect compote.