By Rachel Hergett EBS COLUMNIST
In 1993, Australian children’s musicmakers The Wiggles released a song called “Fruit Salad” on video. The next year, “Fruit Salad” was highlighted on The Wiggles’ fourth album “Yummy Yummy,” which takes its title from the song lyrics. It starts, as many of The Wiggles tracks do, with the catchy refrain, this time repeating “fruit salad, yummy, yummy” three times.
For many, fruit salad the food is synonymous with “Fruit Salad” the song, and elicits a call and response of sorts. Say “fruit salad” and people of a certain age are sure to respond “yummy, yummy.” Versions of “Fruit Salad” have been released around the world in a variety of languages. There is even a version where The Wiggles collaborate with “Sesame Street” characters. “Fruit Salad” is a big deal.
Let’s break down the song a bit. The Wiggles’ first verse is an invitation of sorts, urging kids to make fruit salad and eat fruit. “Let’s make some fruit salad today,” they sing. “It’s fun to do, it’s the healthy way / Take all the fruit that you want to eat / It’s gonna be a fruit salad treat.”
I like the song. I like the message. But when it comes to fruit salad methodology, The Wiggles are wrong.
The song’s fruit salad includes four fruits: bananas, grapes, apples and melon. This is all fine—if you do as the lyrics say and eat all the fruit you cut up until there’s nothing left on your plate. But if you make a big bowl like they do in The Wiggles video, intending to save some fruit salad for later, things are sure to go pear-shaped.
Bananas, for example, are not a friend to fruit salad. Delicious, yes, but they quickly turn into banana mush. If you love them, don’t mix them in. Instead, slice some on top of the portion you are eating. Apples bring a nice, lasting crunch to a fruit salad that is a textural boon, but they will also go brown in a matter of minutes unless exposed to some acid—a problem fixed in my method. And finally, The Wiggles’ fruit salad is simply boring. It is cut up fruit with nothing to enhance the individual flavors or marry them together.
We can do better. While it may not come with instructions in song form, let me teach you how I build a fruit salad. This is one of my favorite summer dishes. It’s cool and nutritious, especially if you shy away from the Cool Whip version. It can help use up the contents of your fruit bowl and give new life to any neglected item therein.
Aside from bananas and delicate berries like raspberries, I throw whatever fruit is laying around into the salad. The version I made for this week included apples from a friend’s tree, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries and pineapple. I always start a fruit salad with a fresh pineapple, loving how it is both sweet and tart and how the juices blend with the other ingredients. Pineapple is my one non-negotiable—though haters can certainly leave it out. Instead ask what fruits you love. What is growing on the trees outside, or looking fresh in the grocery store? What do you need to use in your kitchen? Possibilities include—but are certainly not limited to—pears, peaches, oranges and tropical fruits like mango and papaya. You could even add grapes and melon, like The Wiggles.
The biggest chore here is prep. It feels like a labor of love and a test of patience to chop all of this fresh fruit into bite-sized pieces. But once done, completing your salad is easy. Put all your fruit into a bowl with room to stir. To bring it together and marry those flavors takes three extra ingredients: lime, mint and honey. And it doesn’t take a lot. Chop up a handful of mint and throw it in, drizzle a little honey over the top, and squeeze the juice from about half that lime. If you really like lime, zest the peel in there as well. Stir and adjust to your taste and the fruits you chose for your salad.
Now it’s ready, and as The Wiggles song says, “It tastes so good that you just can’t beat it.”
Fruit salads are always different, yet always delicious. They are a celebration of the variety of fruit available and the personal preferences involved. Along those lines, The Wiggles did a 2021 re-tooling of the song for the group’s “Greatest Hits” album to celebrate their 30th anniversary. It’s called “We’re all fruit salad.”
“It’s not just one fruit that makes a fruit salad,” they sing. “It takes all different kinds of fruit to make a perfect bowl.”
Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.
