Aromatic Purple PlumSalad

Dear Devon,

Does fruit salad need a recipe? Certain combinations go extremely well together: Who would turn down strawberries and cantaloupe, or blackberries and peaches? Fresh and ripe, they are great combinations. But often, fruit salad collapses into browned and mushy fruit in a bowl. Peaches, strawberries, and bananas bruise easily, and on a sunny day, the fruit begins to macerate, great for jams but not ideal for fruit salad. For these reasons, I usually avoid making fruit salads.

Before leaving for Barcelona, I spent my last weekend wandering around Williamsburg. A friend brought me to Radish on Bedford Ave. The quaint shop is styled after an oldtime general store, decorated with eccentric hand-painted chalkboards and a beautiful antique lead-lined fridge. Radish pushes the phrase “take out” way beyond pizza, falafal pitas, or supermarket sushi. It’s real food, cooked using locally grown ingredients. Dishes are kept warm in stylish Staub cocottes and set beside gleaming white trays of savory side dishes. Everything looked absolutely delicious, but alas, we had just stuffed ourselves silly at Fada.



A fruit salad marked as “purple apricot, red onion, and mint” intrigued me. My experience with purple apricots is extremely limited, or rather, nonexistent. I have never seen a purple apricot, so I’m not even sure that’s what they really were. At first glance, they looked like plums. Either way, I was taken with the idea of adding spicy red onion to a sweet fruit salad. I went to the market that afternoon to try it for myself.

Radish was right. Purple onion mixed with fruit is an inspired combination. The flavor is a bit unfamiliar, but definitely not disgusting or off-putting. I sliced fresh purple plums into big wedges and added halved figs. Next came the onion, in thin slivers, opaque, crisp, and fragrant. The salad was carefully tossed with a wooden spoon, gentle on the delicate fruit. The final touch was a bit of aromatic: Lemon zest, mint, or rosemary, on other occasions.


The final salad smells spicy and flowery. It looks amazing with tiny ribbons of red onion settling onto the juicy wedges of plum and plump figs. This salad is about contrasts: Spicy, crisp raw bit of red onion paired with sweet, tangy plums and the grittiness of fig.

Don’t judge this salad until you’ve tasted it. It does require a bit of faith. Pairing red onion with plums and figs is not typical, but I guarantee that it will change how you think about the fruit salad.


Aromatic Purple Plum Salad
(makes 2 servings)

1 large purple skinned plum, sliced
4 figs, halved
2 sprigs rosemary, chopped (about ½ tsp)
1 tbsp red onion, thinly sliced

Wash figs and plums. Dry thoroughly. Cut plums into wedges (a large plum can give you 12 wedges). Halve figs. Store in a large bowl and set aside. Using a very sharp knife, cut paper-thin slices from a medium-sized red onion. Remove leaves from rosemary sprigs and finely chop. Sprinkle fruit with red onion and rosemary. With a large wooden spoon, gently mix the salad. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to set.