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Fresh fruit salad with honey and bitters 

25/2/2016

24 Comments

 
Fresh fruit salad with honey and bitters
As we enjoy the final days of summer, the weather 'person' has promised a series of scorching hot days, almost as if to send off the season with a rousing 'hurrah'.

We're eating light, and the menu has included plenty of main course salads, as well as fruit salads for breakfast or dessert. Last weekend I found a bottle of Angostura bitters tucked away on a shelf at the back of the refrigerator and remembered how delicious it is with fruit.

Named after an old Venezuelan town in Trinidad in the West Indies, Angostura aromatic bitters is a liquid blend of gentian and the bark of a South American tree combined with herbs and spices, including cinnamon and cloves.

Angostura has been used as a flavouring and seasoning for foods and beverages for more than 150 years and is made from a unique formula. It has a rare quality of marrying other flavours in any dish in which it is used, while adding a subtle, bittersweet and almost unidentifiable flavour of its own.
A veritable shelf of spices in one bottle, Angostura is the single ingredient which is able to give a variety of savoury dishes, cocktail drinks and fruit juices, ice creams, fruit salads and puddings an exotic twist.

In addition to adding a special flavour to food, bitters are valued for their tonic and digestive properties. The formula for Angostura was first developed in 1824 by Dr Johann Siegert, a Surgeon-General in the army of Simon Bolivar in an area that was once known as Angostura. Dr Siegert experimented for years, before finding the exact compound for a tonic he felt would improve the wellbeing of his troops, and assist them to combat the effects of the tropical climate.

Few people today know the secret of the formula, but many have discovered its versatility. Incidentally, Angostura has an alcohol/volume of 44.7%. Alcohol is added to hold the ingredients in suspension and stop separation. Used sparingly (only 2-3 dashes in food and drink recipes), the alcohol content per serve is virtually zero.
​
​FRESH FRUIT SALAD WITH HONEY AND BITTERS
1/2 cup good honey
2 teaspoons Angostura aromatic bitters
1kg fresh fruit - watermelon, rockmelon, strawberries, lychees, figs, blueberries
shredded mint to garnish, optional

Prepare the fruit for a fruit salad. Slice the strawberries and make melon balls with the rockmelon and watermelon. Combine in a large, decorative bowl. 

Warm the honey with Angostura and drizzle over the fruit. Cover and chill. Serves 6-8.

Tell me dear readers, is it hot in your part of the world now? Or are you heading into spring? And do you enjoy Angostura bitters?
24 Comments
Tandy I Lavender and Lime link
23/2/2016 11:05:35 pm

I love bitters and will use it to flavour water even. I'm going to try this before the summer fruit is off the shelves 😀

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 01:32:02 am

Good plan, Tandy, thanks for stopping by xx

Reply
Amanda link
24/2/2016 01:28:09 am

I have a new book waiting on my book pile called "Bitter" which you might just be interested in. It's written by an Australian chef called Jennifer McClagan, who is a Canada resident now, and is about the value of the taste of bitter in our foods and how it is being manipulated out of lots of food. She'd approve of your salad, I think.

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 01:31:45 am

Oh, now that sounds interesting, Amanda! Thanks.

Reply
Simone Mason
24/2/2016 01:32:27 am

I love bitters, Lizzie. Thanks. I am going to try your salad.

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 01:33:05 am

I love Angostura too, Simone... especially in a well made Lemon, Lime and Bitters! Thank you for stopping by.

Reply
Mandy link
24/2/2016 07:30:48 am

Lizzy, definitely the most beautiful fruit salad I have seen. Delicious!
Have a beautiful day.
:-) Mandy xo

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 06:43:05 pm

Get well soon, lovely Mandy xx

Reply
SallyBR link
24/2/2016 07:37:51 am

Woderful! Such a coincidence! I just "discovered" bitters as an ingredient after reading about it in a food magazine... I bought a small bottle and found out I love it even in sparkling water, just a few drops..

I intend to play with it in recipes and if you have more ideas, I hope you'll be blogging about them....

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 06:43:40 pm

Oooh, nice Sally. Try it with some lemonade and a few drops of lime! Delish!

Reply
John / Kitchen Riffs link
24/2/2016 12:26:58 pm

Snow here today, but we know the warm weather is on its way. Eventually. :-) Wonderful salad -- bitters are amazing, aren't they? You can use them with everything! This is particularly nice -- thanks.

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 06:44:04 pm

Snow? Wow, John, polar opposites!

Reply
e / dig in hobart link
24/2/2016 04:08:32 pm

oh that salad looks so refreshing! I wonder where my little bottle of bitters is?
we're still having warm weather, with a stinker of 35 a couple of days ago that we're still recovering from!

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 06:42:47 pm

Seems everyone has a bottle tucked away!

Reply
Eha
24/2/2016 06:30:39 pm

Well the 'weatherman' [I refuse to be politically correct at some ridiculous times :) !] has said it will be 43 C here today and much, much cooler tomorrow . . . spoilt brat I would then love to have 'our' autumn for the next six months!! Anyways at 10.30 am it is already 'not nice'!! This however does look nice and I saw my bottle of hardly used bitters only a few days back: so thanks for the idea :) !!!

Reply
Lizzy
24/2/2016 06:42:27 pm

Ouch, I thought 37 was bad! Stay cool x

Reply
Ben
24/2/2016 06:44:48 pm

It's hot out way my way too. I think I need to ask the missus to make this.

Reply
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella link
24/2/2016 08:03:05 pm

This is perfect for today Lizzy! Hope you're staying cool :)

Reply
Krista link
25/2/2016 01:49:05 am

I've often wondered what to do with bitters, Liz, apart from cocktails. This is beautiful! :-)

Reply
Laura (Tutti Dolci) link
25/2/2016 02:56:53 pm

So lovely and refreshing!

Reply
Anna @ shenANNAgans link
25/2/2016 11:32:21 pm

Everyone keeps saying it is boiling outside, but the air conditioning in my building has me all tucked up in a light jumper and long pants (its freezing). So when I walk outside, the heat is much welcomed. :)

I adore this recipe, it is gorgeous and what a fun way to use bitters, I havent used it in any other way than in a lemon lime and bitters. Cant wait to try this beauty. Yarm!

Reply
David link
27/2/2016 10:47:14 am

I have never heard of bitters being used with fruit salad! I have about six or seven different varieties, and I think it will be really fun to play with this in a fruit salad. I've also toying with making my own bitters – have you ever done that, Liz?

Reply
Janet aka Middle Aged Mama link
27/2/2016 08:55:31 pm

I love lemon lime and bitters, it's my favourite drink. I will have to try it next time in fruit salad with honey!

Reply
Judy@Savoring Today link
2/3/2016 10:19:12 am

Liz, that photo is gorgeous! I love how vibrant, beautiful color makes a meal so much more appealing. Love it!

Reply

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