A sophisticated take on fruit salad, with rose water and rose petals, and accompanied by delicate white brandy pearls. Recipe by Yolande Schoeman. Photograph by Kelly Zetler.
Rose-Scented Fruit Salad Served with White Brandy Pearls
Serves 6-8
Rose Scented Fruit Salad
125ml water
75g caster sugar
½ vanilla bean – split with the seeds scraped out
juice of 2 limes
10ml rose water
20 lychees (fresh or canned)
1 small watermelon
1 cantaloupe melon
1 winter melon
1 small pineapple
rose petals, to garnish
- Combine the water, caster sugar, vanilla bean and seeds in a small saucepan and very slowly bring to the boil.
- Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then stir in lime juice and rose water.
- Peel the lychees and place in a large bowl.
- Remove the rind from the melons and cut into equally sized small cubes.
- Skin the pineapple and cut into 1cm cubes.
- Add all of the cut fruit to the lychees.
- Pour the vanilla syrup over the fruit and chill until needed.
- To serve, scatter with rose petals and white brandy pearls.
White Brandy Pearls
200ml white brandy (Collison’s)
50ml simple syrup (equal quantities water and sugar)
3g alginate powder
1000ml water
5g calcium chloride, dissolved into the water
- Combine the white brandy and simple syrup.
- Add the alginate powder to this mixture and use a hand blender to thoroughly combine the ingredients.
- Leave to stand overnight in the fridge.
- The following day, use a hand blender to dissolve the calcium chloride in the water.
- To make the white brandy pearls, drop equal amounts of the brandy mixture into the dissolved calcium chloride water. Leave the pearls in the calcium chloride for about 30-60 seconds – don’t leave them any longer than this as they will form a very thick skin. Remove from the calcium chloride bath and rinse in clean water. Serve immediately.
