Fruit Salad with Black Cherry Balsamic & Basil

This is an adaption of a Rachel Ray recipe. She used individual trifle dishes, however, we wanted to make this for a holiday brunch, and used a large traditional trifle bowl. In either case, just have clear sides so you can see the beautiful layers.

Industrial Sized for the Family Gatherings

We chose our Black Cherry Balsamic Vinegar for use with this, given its wonderful slight tartness, but our other dark Balsamic Vinegars would also work well.  In particular, our Raspberry and our Fig would make it shine.

The idea is a seasonal fruit selection, and we suggest you vary the colors. Here are the fruits we suggest:

• cherries, halved & pitted
• strawberries, hulled & quartered
• red grapes, halved
• raspberries
• blackberries
• blueberries
• pineapple, cut into ½ inch chunks

ingredients

• 1 pound each of 5 of the fruits listed above
• 4 tablespoons Pastamore Black Cherry Balsamic Vinegar
• slivered fresh basil leaves (about 20, or to taste)
• lemongrass yogurt dessert topping (optional, recipe is here)

preparation

Arrange the first fruit in the bottom of a trifle dish or a medium bowl. Layer fruit #2 on top, then fruit #3; sprinkle with half the basil. Drizzle half the Cherry Balsamic. Top with fruits #4 and #5. Drizzle remaining balsamic; top with the remaining basil.

Serves 6 or more.