The Only Ingredient You Need To Keep Fruit Salad Fresh (And You Probably Already Have It)

A mixture of freshly cut fruit like blueberries, strawberries, and perhaps some kiwi is hard to beat, and it's a rather easy side dish or light dessert to pull together. The key is to keep the fruit fresh from cutting to serving — and you might know how challenging that can be to achieve. Luckily, there's an easy ingredient that will maintain fruit salad's freshness, and there's a strong chance it's already in your kitchen. It's all about a nice squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  

Freshly squeezed lemon juice packs acidity, which is the key element that will keep your next fruit salad in its prime. The acidity slows down the oxidation of the fruit as it waits to be served at your picnic or dinner party, and therefore will preserve the look and flavor. It works in the same way with apple pies and our classic apple cobbler recipe. And since it's a fruit salad, that lemon flavor won't take away from the sweet flavor of the apples or strawberries in the bowl. You can even make a dressing with an acidic ingredient to add more flavor and keep the fruit fresh, like with our simple fruit salad with honey-lime dressing recipe.

The first step is to try to use freshly squeezed lemon juice because it will have a better flavor and won't contain other ingredients like additives. However, if you're in a pinch and only have a bottle of lemon juice, it will still have plenty of acidity to keep that fruit fresh from the cutting board to the serving bowl. Some even say bottled lemon juice has a more consistent level of lemon juice, so it doesn't hurt to try in order to keep those apples, grapes, or mandarin slices fresh. There's not an exact amount of lemon juice to use, but a little should go a long way. Obviously, the larger the fruit salad, the more lemon juice you should squeeze into the bowl. And if you want more of a citrus taste, don't be afraid to use the entire lemon to reach your desired taste preference.

Now, lemon juice is not the only option to preserve your homemade fruit salad. Other citrus fruits contain acidity that will also get the job done including oranges, limes, and even pineapples. If you plan to toss in oranges or pineapples into the salad, that juice should help already. For more, check out these five mistakes to avoid with fruit salad, like making it too far ahead of time.