Fast, fresh and easy! Crisp, sweet Honeycrisp apple combines with punchy pineapple, a hint of heat, and crunchy pecans in a delightful and versatile salsa with an island twist. Amazingly versatile, this fruity salsa dresses up your breakfast yogurt parfait, is the perfect healthy pairing for chips at tailgate parties, puts spark into pork tacos for Taco Tuesday, and its delicious acidity pairs well with broiled wild salmon. Breakfast, lunch or dinner – we’ve got you covered!
Honeycrisp apples have been all the rage for the last couple of years. Me – I started seeing evidence of a marketing campaign last year, but never really sought them out – until one bite of the “forbidden” fruit at IFBC in Seattle where Rainier Fruit Company was offering tasty samples. As cliche as it sounds – it was love at first bite!
In almost 400 years of cultivating apples on these shores, Honeycrisp may be the first true name-brand domestic variety to hit the shelves demanding a price out of this segment of the market – a designer apple, if you will.
Even David Bedford, the man responsible for creating the Honeycrisp 20 years ago (via good old-fashioned cross breeding, not nefarious genetic splicing and dicing), is astonished by the apple’s success. “I have absolutely never seen this price phenomenon with another apple,” says Bedford, a scientist at the University of Minnesota. “There are varieties that have garnered a 10 percent premium to standard pricing, and usually they have a promotional campaign behind them. They eventually fade out. Honeycrisp has never had a national marketing campaign — it’s truly a grassroots phenomenon. I’ve had to ask myself, ‘Is this real?'”
It is very real. Honeycrisps seem to inspire a devotion bordering on obsession from eaters who prize their sweet taste and distinct juiciness and snap. It’s what fruit folk call a great hand apple: phenomenal for biting into raw. This explosive crunchiness isn’t simply a product of better freshness or farming practices — it’s an actual genetic variation. Bedford says that studied under an electron microscope, Honeycrisp cells are twice the size of those of other apples, which accounts for their unique, pleasing texture. {Source: Eat Like A Man}
- Description: Honeycrisp apples have a yellow-gold background generously brushed with vibrant red. Characteristic shallow dimples and numerous small lenticels cover its surface. Lenticels are the pores of the apples that allow the exceptionally juicy and crisp texture. Maturity affects this apples good taste. Generally super sweet, the flavor can vary from mild to fairly robust, depending on its stage of growth.
- Parentage: This apple was developed from a 1960 cross of Macoun and honeygold apples at the University of Minnesota.
- Availability: Supplies are limited, but growing. Harvested in late September.
- Usage: Honeycrisp makes delicious pie, sauce, cobblers, kuchen, muffins, cakes, cookies, quick breads and tarts. This apple freezes nicely and may be dried. This apple is also a great addition to fresh fruit salads.
A total party in your mouth – you’ll be ecstatic at how easy, perky on the palate, and versatile this Pineapple Honeycrisp Salsa is! I’d love to hear how you decide to use it.
- 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple about 1/2 a pineapple
- 1 cup chopped Honey Crisp apple about 1/2 of a large apple
- 3 Shishito peppers seeded and diced (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon Chaparral Gardens Kaffir LIme Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Pasolivo LIme Olive Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Togarashi seasoning*
- 1/2 teaspoon black sesame seeds
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Combine the pineapple, apples, and peppers in a large bowl.
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Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar and Togarashi seasoning. Add dressing and sesame seeds to the fruit mixture, stir to combine.
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Devour as a fresh fruit salsa or salad, as a flavorful accompaniment for fish or chicken, or layer with Greek yogurt in a parfait.
*Togarashi is a Japanese spice of chili pepper, orange peel, sesame seeds, Japanese pepper, ginger and seaweed.
Pineapple Honeycrisp Salsa Greek Yogurt Parfait
(easily made vegan by substituting coconut, almond or soy yogurt)
Nami | Just One Cookbook
I like the addition of shichimi togarashi! Pineapple and apples – that’s a nice combination for salsa! We love fruits and salsa, so this will be fun to make this fall!
Priscilla
Thanks, Nami! The togarashi and shishito added that special Asian flavor that goes beyond cayenne or jalapeno 🙂
Alice D'Antoni Phillips
Ironoic or God wink…a girlfriend and I were just talking about pineapple salsa this morning after yoga! Then I come home and open yours!! Looks like I’ll have to make something! 🙂
Priscilla
It’s serendipitous, Ally! You absolutely must make with some Dole pineapple 🙂
shockinglydelicious
That looks astoundingly good!
Priscilla
Thanks, Dorothy! I know you appreciate the concept of simple = sensational like I do 🙂