Grandmama’s fruit salad is my absolute favorite thing in the entire world to eat. I adore it. I love it. As my son said once “This is so good, if it were a girl, I’d marry it!”. Grandmama’s Holiday Fruit Salad is so incredibly good.
My grandmother always made it for us at Thanksgiving and Christmas and now that she has gone on to celebrate Thanksgiving with Jesus, this fruit salad holds even more precious memories. No other desserts exist for me when this fruit salad is present. You can tempt me with creme brûlée, tiramisu, carrot cake, even Grandmama’s chocolate pie, but Grandmama’s Holiday Fruit Salad is the beginning and end as far as I am concerned.
In case you haven’t caught on yet, I REALLY REALLY love THIS fruit salad!
LETS MAKE SOME!!!!
~eyes widen and mouth begins to water~
To make Grandmama’s Holiday Fruit Salad you will need: Apples, Oranges, Seedless Grapes, 3-4 cans fruit cocktail (with juice), 1 Cup sugar, and 6 egg yolks (the yellow part).
Peel and chop apples. Place in bowl.
Peel and cut up oranges. Cut oranges up over apples and stir so that the orange juice prevents them from browning.
Cut grapes into halves. Place in bowl.
Pour all of the fruit cocktail into bowl, juice and all.
stir well.
Drain juice from bowl of fruit into a sauce pot.
Add sugar
(you CAN use Splenda in place of sugar here!)
Separate eggs. You can discard the whites or find another use for them
(ideas in notes on the recipe card at the bottom of this post)
Beat egg yolks well.
Add to sauce pot. Stir well.
Cook approximately 15 minutes over medium heat stirring occasionally until slightly thickened.
Cool.
Pour over fruit. Stir, Cover, and refrigerate.
Will keep in the refrigerator for a week.
Make at least 24 hours ahead so that flavors can marry – or they can just date for a bit, they”ll likely get along better if they haven’t signed on for a commitment after such a short time anyway.
Serve cold.
If you had any idea how wonderful this tastes you’d be dying right now!
Grandmama and Mama always store theirs in glass jars in the fridge, kind of like this one.
Ingredients
- 6-8 Apples
- 6 Oranges
- 1 lb Seedless Grapes
- 3-4 15 Ounce Cans Fruit Cocktail You can use generic, it is every bit as good!
- 1 Cup sugar
- 6 egg yolks*
Instructions
- Peel fruit and chop into small pieces. Cut oranges over apples so that the juice from the oranges will stop the apples from turning dark. Pour fruit cocktail over fruit. Drain juice from fruit into saucepan.
- Add 1 cup sugar and 6 egg yolks. Blend well.
- Cook approximately 15 minutes over medium heat stirring occasionally until slightly thickened. Cool. Pour over fruit.
- Stir, Cover, and refrigerate. Will keep in frig for a week. Make at least 24 hours ahead so that flavors can marry. Optional: Coconut and pecans. Bananas can be added but they turn dark quick and the fruit salad will not last as long in refrigerator.
Notes
Banana Pudding
Lemon Meringue Pie
Orange Meringue Pie
Coffee Cream Pie
Nutrition
Another great one! My hubby just loves fruit salad- I can’t wait to try this one out on him and see if he notices the difference! This recipe reminds me of a punch my grandma used to make when we had big parties back in the day- Christy- maybe that’s what we need next! You know people are having Christmas parties left and right soon- I think we could all use a good southern punch recipe!
I could swim in a vat of that with my mouth open…
Have you ever put bananas in this fruit salad? I was wondering how bananas would hold up. I like bananas in fruit salad but I also don’t want to ruin the left overs with black, slimy things either.
I recently found your blog and love it. Now I can’t stay away from it. I think you were raised with the same food as I was…and it’s all good.
Thanks for being so excited about the food and the way of life we southerners live.
My mom always put bananas in her fruit salad, too so I can’t imagine a fruit salad without them. Guess we can make up the salad ahead and add sliced bananas just before serving.
This looks absolutly beautiful Christy all the colors of the fruit. That sauce is so different that i gotta try it. your pictures are beautiul especially with the sunlight coming through. Happy Thanksgiving.
Hey Tammy! Yes, I have put bananas in it and so has Grandmama. One of the neat things about it, though, is how long it keeps and stays nice and fresh in the fridge and like you said, the bananas kind of kill that effect. What I do when I want bananas is just slice them into my bowl of fruit salad rather than adding to the whole thing. You can, though, absolutely you can! It just won’t keep as long.
I am so glad you’re here!!! Thank you for reading!
Caitlin What a great idea on the punch!!! I’m right on it!!! I hope you enjoy this, I can honestly eat my weight in this fruit salad!
Tina! Hey girlfriend!!! It is pretty, isn’t it? I hope you have a great one, too!! I have your email all queued up to answer now!!!
Thank you all for reading!!!
Christy 🙂
Ok Christy I came back to post and let you know that I am so making this for Thanksgiving. I have a jar exactly like that with a snow man on it. I will make it wed night and carry it up to my mother in laws house in a cooler LOL. I gotta make this salad dh looked at it and said ummmm now that looks good. Ok Christy its going on the road with us.
Wow! This looks fan-freakin-tabulous and I can’t wait to try it!