Summer Stone Fruit Salad

Summer is stone fruit season, which means that peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and cherries are available in grocery stores. Sure, you may be able to find peaches and nectarines in some stores throughout the year, but summer is when you get to enjoy the freshest varieties. For this fruit salad, you’ll toss together five different stone fruit varieties, some freshly chopped mint, and a simple vanilla, maple dressing for a slightly sweet bite.

One your next trip to the market, be on the lookout for in-season stone fruits, which should take center stage. These stone fruits are the most ripe and offer the best texture and sweetness. The combination of textures and flavors is really what this stone fruit salad aims to showcase. Peaches and nectarines come in yellow and white options, but you can choose the ones you prefer. If you want a more colorful stone fruit salad, consider using white nectarines and yellow peaches, or vice versa. The plums offer a deep red-purplish hue and slightly tart flavor profile. If they are softer, then they’ll be on the sweeter side.

Apricots add a wonderful orange color to the fruit salad, and the dark red cherries make it pop! If you prefer Rainier cherries, which have a whiter color, then you can use those if they are available to you. Now, if you just want to cut up the fruit and toss them together, that is a perfectly acceptable way to assemble a fruit salad. This fruit salad does come with a mint and maple dressing, which sets off the natural sweetness of the stone fruit. Choose your own culinary destiny! Both paths lead to deliciousness!