Berry Fresh Fruit Salad

I always believed that berries don't do well in subtropical regions, but I was wrong! We tried growing Strawberries a couple of years ago, but we have a problem with pesky monkeys raiding the garden for anything edible. These strawberries actually managed to start ripening while the papaya trees were bearing well. The monkeys got tired of only eating papayas, and soon spotted the gorgeous little red berries!

Our two magnificent old papaya trees had the sweetest and most delicious fruit.
The birds ate the fruit right at the top, then it was the monkeys turn, and lastly us humans. There was plenty for everyone!

They eventually fell, one after the other.
Papaya trunks are hollow, and with continuous rain they started rotting; age also must have played a factor.

Back to berries, thankfully there's been an abundance of Blueberries and Strawberries in our fresh produce markets, and they're surprisingly affordable this season.

I've been using them when making muffins, Pavlovas, on my morning cereal, and eating berries, instead of a chocolate bar, way healthier I would say!

I bought gorgeous ripe papayas and bananas which are grown in Kwazulu Natal, where I live. Those are the base ingredients of all my fruit salads. I then add whatever fruit I can lay my hands on; apples, oranges, kiwi, pineapple, passionfruit, and berries of course!

For today's fruit salad I only had:

2 papayas
2 bananas
1 orange
1 Lime
a handful of Strawberries
And
Blueberries

Simple ingredients, diced and cubed, to make a deliciously fresh fruit salad!

The easiest way to cube papayas is to halve them and cut them while in the skin, then scoop them out with a spoon or a knife.

The fruit peelings are thrown down the bank on the side of our property; the monkeys don't mind our leftovers! What they don't eat, simply goes back into the ground so there's no wastage.