Melon salad sweet and spicy has all the fresh and colorful fruits available in summer. The flavoring includes citrus, fresh mint and hot honey making this salad a sweet, spicy and citrusy.

Use other kitchen utensils like a measuring spoon (pic 2 ) or round scoop (pic 3 )with thin sharp edges to cut into the fruit. Highly recommend buying an inexpensive melon baller (NOT SPONSORED ). it is so much fun to see perfect round fruit balls. Look for the one that has a flat scraper (pic 4) in the back rather than another size of baller. The scraper is quite sturdy and efficiently cuts into the fruit scraps and makes the job easy to collect. Tastes good in any shape simply cut into cubes if that is all you prefer to.

Ingredients list and substitutes :

Watermelon : Use seedless small watermelon to avoid seeds coming in the mouth white eating the fruits.
Honeydew : Honeydew may need little more pressure to scoop out but it will come out perfectly as you go towards the bottom.
Mango : Use a sightly under ripe fruit for the the sweet spicy tart flavors to work in the salad. When the mango is too ripe it is hard to hold the shape
FRUIT SUBSTITUTES : According to the season peaches , nectarines, cantaloupe, grapes, berries, cucumber etc can be added.
Honey : I have used hot honey here. If using regular honey then add other flavors to add interest.
Flavorings : Black pepper, paprika, sumac, tajin, chat masalas or other fruit flavorings can be added.
Herbs : Instead of mint use basil or dill leaves for unique taste.
Cheese : Crumbed feta goes well with watermelon salad. Adds a tangy flavor. Goes well with fruit and grilled meats.

Steps for making melon salad :

Use melon baller to neatly get a round ball of fruit, keep in an airtight container and refrigerate each fruit individually for pretty looking rounds. Fruits like honey dew may absorb other fruit colors and flavors.

Add the dressing and gently mix the chilled fruits and serve immediately. So the fruits like watermelon don't start letting out the juice and diluting the salad taste and appearance.

How to serve and store leftovers?

Serve spicy sweet melon salad along with grilled meats or as an appetizer along with olive, herbed cheese, baguette crisps and honey nuts etc in an assorted platter.
Great for summer lunch box.
Make only what is required. Fresh fruits always taste best the same day. But if you have leftovers finish it by the next day. Could be thrown into morning smoothies as all the ingredients like honey lemon mint fit the breakfast category.
If you are unable to finish always freeze the leftovers and throw into juice instead of ice cubes.

Other popular fruit salads to try :