Cold Soak Tropical Fruit Salad
Dried mango, pineapple, and papaya rehydrated in lime water until they eat like fruit again.
- calories
- 470
- weight
- 3.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 3 min
- water
- 180 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Snack
- Dessert
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Day hike
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Dried mango | 1/3 cup | chopped to pea size at home so it soaks evenly |
|---|---|---|
| Dried pineapple | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried papaya | 1/4 cup | the unsweetened kind if you can find it |
| Freeze-dried banana slices | 1/4 cup | added at the end, not soaked |
| Coconut chips | 3 tbsp | toasted keeps its crunch longer |
| Crystallized lime powder | 1 tsp | True Lime or similar, one packet |
| Honey | 1 tbsp | in a small squeeze tube |
| Dried mint | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Put the mango, pineapple, and papaya in the jar with the lime powder and salt.
- Add 180 ml of cold water. Enough to cover the fruit, not enough to make juice.
- Seal and shake. Let it sit 45 minutes, or overnight if you want it soft all the way through.
- Squeeze in the honey and stir. It dissolves fine in cold water once the fruit has given up some sugar.
- Fold in the banana slices, mint, and coconut chips right before eating so they stay crisp.
Fresh tropical fruit is a car-camping luxury and a backpacking joke. The original is watermelon, papaya, and dragon fruit cut fresh, which is mostly water you would otherwise be carrying. Dried fruit and a cold soak get you to the same place: the water comes from the creek, not your pack.
The lime and salt are the parts that matter. Dried fruit soaked in plain water tastes flat and one-note sweet. Acid and a little salt put the edges back. Bananas and coconut go in last because they turn to mush in the soak, and mush is the failure mode of every rehydrated fruit dish.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one wide-mouth jar or freezer bag, except the coconut and banana in a small separate bag. Honey rides in a tube in a side pocket, upright.
Variations
- Skip the honey and it is vegan. The dried fruit is already sweet enough for most people.
- A tablespoon of chia seeds thickens the soaking liquid into a syrup instead of leaving water in the bottom.
- Freeze-dried dragon fruit, if you find it, holds its texture better than the dried kind.
https://blog.9jakitchen.com/tropical-fruit-salad-recipe