Can you believe it? Christmas is this week! By next week, it’ll be a new year.
Of all the holidays, I love Christmas. Buying gifts, wrapping them up, sending out Christmas cards. The flip side of that – homesickness usually strikes me so badly. After all, nothing beats Christmas in the Philippines. The last time we celebrated Christmas there was in 2011.
Anyway, I learned this Filipino fruit salad dessert from my mom when I was young. It’s a very easy and fool-proof dessert, which I usually make during the holidays when I’m feeling homesick.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 30 oz. cans fruit cocktail (can be in heavy syrup or in juice, doesn’t matter)
- 1 12 oz. bottle of jackfruit (langka)
- 1 12 oz. bottle of coconut gelatin (nata de coco)
- 1 12 oz. bottle of palm fruit (kaong)
- 1 10 oz. maraschino cherries
- 1 7.6 fl. oz. Nestle table cream (media crema)
- 1 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
Drain, mix, refrigerate and serve.
That pretty much sums up how to make this dessert.
I placed all the fruit ingredients in a big strainer to drain them of all liquid.
Then I moved the fruits in a big bowl and poured the table cream. . .
. . .followed by the condensed milk.
Then I mixed it all up. I refrigerated it the whole day. When I got home from work, here’s my handiwork! I probably should’ve left a cherry with a stem as a topping.
Some days, I add grapes, pineapple, even cantaloupe and honeydew.
If you’re watching your sugar intake, then this dessert is not for you. Don’t say you weren’t warned. Sometimes I just use half a can of condensed milk. Otherwise, I go for broke, baby!
There you have it, folks. Fruit salad made lovingly with my own two hands. It’s a sweet treat I learned from my mom that I remember so fondly – easy to love and easy to make.