Fruit Salad with seeds and Thassos Pine Honey

Zazulete

Summer begins its descent into the Underworld, slowly, and we are hungry to bring its colors and flavors on the plate, we know we will miss it soon. This is not just a fruit plate, but also a game. You can turn this delicious breakfast or snack into a creative relaxation moment, similar to Ikebana or mandala drawing. A coloring page from your favorite coloring book that you get to eat, in the end :)) You can arrange the fruit slices and seeds of your choice and let your imagination run wild. Kids will be delighted to play this game, to arrange landscape, stories, little animals or geometric and abstract forms and it can become a creative trick to make them love and eat fruits and teach them fruit and seeds healthy properties and their journey from the ground, to the sun and onto the plate. This is one game I was playing with my middle sister when we were little, taking turns in preparing creative breakfast plates for each other. Siblings can surprise each other with dedications, learning generosity and the joy of making the loved ones happy.
Your guests would also be delighted to be welcomed with such fruit game plates or take part in the game themselves.

You can play with all fruits and seeds you like or are locally seasonal, naturally. Today I am proposing a seasonal fruit and seed plate from my region, and I chose strawberries, black grapes, green apple, peaches, nectarines, mango and lime. Make sure to combine sweet with tangy and play with different fruit textures (crunchy, soft, silky) for a surprising result.

It would be a good choice to mix the zesty sweetness of the fruits and honey with some salted seeds (they generally go well with conifer honey, for one thing), I used here:

Roasted salted pistachio - delicious, fatty nuts filled with mineral, protein, monounsaturated fatty acids, antioxidant and the highest "nutty" potasium amount.

Raw pumpkin seeds - Omega 3, Zinc, and antioxidants little warriors.

Roasted salted sunflower seeds - a sunny, tasty source of Vitamin E, more fatty acids, magnesium and selenium.

To my fruit game plate, I added goji berries (potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant), dried cranberries (for a Vitamin C and Vitamin A boost) and white raisins hydrated (or shall I say tipsy) in brandy.

The star of our recipe is the Thassos pine honey. Its properties (taste, color, perfume, health benefits) are unique, just like its story. Pine honey is harvested from honey bees originally living on the island, covered by conifer forests, and it comes as the result of a special symbiosis between the forest honey bee and Marchalina hellenica, which alchemically transforms the sap of pine trees into crystallized honeydew for the bees, making Thassos a haven where no insecticide is used (not even for mosquitoes).

Pine branch with Marchalina hellenica honeydew source:wiki

Thassos pine honey

If you ever get to Thassos or Chalkidiki, don't forget (all) the honey there. :)
Until you get it on your tongue, drizzle your masterpiece with a conifer honey (or experiment with other honey types). After you feast your eyes and take it all in, your colorful creation, through your eyes first, when you are ready, mix it all with a spoon and enjoy a corner of paradise. I promise!