This recipe is more about mixing and less about cooking. It is super easy to make, and I suspect that the challenge for the average American with respect to this recipe is looking for the ingredients at the Asian grocery store.
I grew up eating this fruit salad version every holiday season in the Philippines. It was never absent on our family’s dining table every New Year’s Eve, and I think it’s because the fruit ingredients are in small round or almost-round cuts, thus making this fruit salad a “lucky” dish. In the Philippines, small round things are considered good luck charms for the New Year; Filipinos typically wear polka dot printed clothes every December 31st through January 1st.
Of course, it doesn’t matter that fruit salad is a cold dessert. After all, it is always warm in the Philippines, even during the holidays. Therefore, fruit salad isn’t really a summer dessert in the Philippines in the same way that it is in America because cold desserts can be enjoyed in the Philippines’ warm weather all-year round.
The base for this recipe is condensed milk and table cream. What is table cream? It isn’t common in American recipes because more common are whipped cream, heavy cream, and half and half. In the Philippines, table cream is pretty common. It seems that Latin American cooking uses table cream a lot too, because I usually go to the Latin American section if I need to get it at a regular American grocery store. Whenever I get table cream at the Latin American section of a regular American grocery store, it usually has a Spanish label. Whenever I get it at an Asian grocery store or a Filipino store, it usually has an English label. This is the Spanish version:
There are three additional fruit ingredients in this fruit salad version that are available only in Asian grocery stores or Filipino stores. These are kaong (sugar palm in syrup), nata de coco (sweet coconut gel), and macapuno balls (coconut balls in sweet heavy syrup). This is what they look like:
I should mention that my American husband thinks this is one of the best Philippine desserts, and the best fruit salad version he’s ever tasted. That’s saying a lot, because being with me, he gets dragged into eating a lot of different desserts!
FRUIT SALAD
Ingredients:
- 1 can condensed milk
- 1 can table cream
- 2 30-oz. cans of fruit cocktail
- 1 20-oz. can pineapple chunks
- 1 jar kaong
- 1 jar nata de coco
- 1 jar macapuno balls
Milk-Cream Mixture:
- Pour about 1/4 to 1/3 can of condensed milk with about 1/2 to 3/4 can of table cream. I usually go for the lesser quantity to lessen my sugar intake. Stir.
Fruits:
1. Drain fruit cocktail and pineapple chunks for half an hour to ensure that the fruit salad won’t be “soupy” with syrup.
2. Drain the kaong, nata de coco, and macapuno balls for about half an hour.
3. Mix all fruit ingredients in a big bowl. Pour the milk-cream mixture into the bowl and mix very well.
4. Refrigerate and enjoy!
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