Fruit Cocktail Salad Semifredo

A little bit of a back story regarding canned fruits in the Philippines. It was introduced by the Americans, during their occupation after WW2. While there’s a lot of delicious mouth watering fruits in the Philippines, luscious mangoes and juicy pineapples to name a few, fruits like peaches grapes and apricots are hard to come by and extremely expensive . Hence, the popularity of canned fruits and in turn, fruit cocktail salad.

If you’re after an easy “do ahead” dessert for summer, this one is for you. This fruit cocktail salad can be served cold or frozen as a semifredo dessert. Semifredo means partially frozen and is essentially a frozen mousse. The cream in semifredo is whipped which accounts for the light texture.

This fruit salad recipe makes use of canned fruits, specifically canned fruit cocktail. If you’re not familiar with fruit cocktail, it is a combination of diced fruits usually peaches apricot and pineapple. You can also use fresh diced fruits or a combination of canned or fresh, it’s up to you. Personally, when I make this, I use a combination. If using canned fruits, make sure that you drain liquid from the fruits thoroughly. Nothing worse than a fruit salad swimming in liquid like soup.

Serve this cold from the fridge, or place the mixture on a silicon mould and freeze for at least three hours. Or, if you make a double batch, serve as a salad and freeze the leftovers to serve as semifredo.

How to Make Fruit Cocktail Salad/Semifredo

• If using fresh fruits, dice into 1 inch pieces and place in a colander to drain.
• For canned fruits, drain in a colander.
• Whip heavy cream until firm peaks and airy.
  
• Use a spatula to fold the condensed milk into the cream.
• Fold in the fruits and coconut strips, if using.
• Store in the fridge if serving as a fruit salad.
• If serving as a Semifredo, place in a freezer friendly container ( silicon is ideal) and set to firm up in the freezer for at least 3 hours.
  
• To serve, set bottom of mould in a hot water for 2 seconds, then un mould to a serving platter.

What you need to make it..

• Diced Fruits – Canned/Fresh or a Combination. Fruits to try – pineapple , peaches, nectarines ,grapes, mango. Another favourite is canned lychees. I don’t usually put cherries for two reasons. One, you have to remove the pits, and two, the red colour leaches into the salad and turns it pink. If you don’t mind that, put cherries if you’ve got them. They also look stunning as decorations.
• Condensed Milk
• Heavy Cream
• Young Coconut Strips (Optional) – In the Philippines, this is called buko. If you can find young fresh young coconut, lucky you. Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh of the coconut and cut into strips. Alternatively, these are available frozen, in 500g packets from Asian shops. Thaw before using. Although optional it provides a “chew” texture to the salad.
  

• If serving as a frozen dessert, you need a freezer friendly mould, silicon is ideal.

Fruit Cocktail Salad Semifredo

Recipe by acmowlai

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Desserts/Sweets, Holidays, Pinoy Favourites

Servings

10

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

0

minutes

Ingredients

• 825g can Fruit Cocktail in juice,drained

• 395g condensed milk

• 300ml thickened cream

• 100g seedless red grapes

• 1 small mango, peeled stoned and diced

• 1 cup young coconut strips (optional)

Directions

• Drain fruits in a colander . If serving as semifredo, lightly spray a 6 cup loaf pan (or a silicone Bundt). If using a loaf pan, line with plastic wrap, so it’s easier to un mould.
• Whip cream until firm peaks form.
• Use a spatula to fold condensed milk into the cream.
• Add diced fruits and coconut strips (if using) to the cream and mix and gently fold.
• Store in the fridge until ready to use.
• If serving frozen as a semifredo, place mix into prepared pan and freeze until firm.
• Unmould to a serving platter to serve. Decorate with extra sliced mangoes if desired.

Recipe Video

Notes

• Can be served cold or as a frozen dessert