Hooray for Fruit Cocktail Day!

Everyone remembers fruit cocktail from their childhood. Peaches, pears, pineapple, grapes and cherries all covered in sweet syrupy sauce were a standard at many Hoosier tables. As good as it tasted, however, that syrupy sauce canceled out some of the health benefits of the fruit with excessive sugar. Healthy Hoosier Eaters can make a few changes and welcome back fruit cocktails and salads back to their tables.

If you do decide to purchase commercially-prepared fruit cocktail, make sure to choose a fruit cocktail with light syrup. You can significantly reduce your sugar intake and calorie count by reading the labels and opting for a healthier brand.

Make It Fresh

When made from scratch, fruit cocktail makes for a cool and fresh desert during the hot summer months in Indiana. Choose some fruits that are in season to get the most bang for your buck. During spring months, you can select from apricots, limes, mangos, oranges, pineapple and that Hoosier staple fruit -- strawberries. Fresh fruit provides significantly more nutritional value than canned or other commercially prepared foods. To provide the maximum health benefits for your family, make your own in just a few minutes.

Packed with Nutrition

Eating fruit cocktails provides an alphabet of vitamins -- A, C, E, K, B1, B2 and B6. You also get a load of minerals --  calcium, copper, folate, iron, niacin, magnesium, potassium and zinc. Getting these nutritents into your kids is easy with fruit cocktail -- they will eat it right up, unlike liver and other high nutrient foods.

Dress It Up

Try mixing up a bowl of fruit and sprinkling with powdered sugar, Make a natural syrup by squeezing the juice from an orange and adding a couple of tablespoons of local honey. The local honey doesn't just taste good -- it helps build immunity against local pollens for allergy sufferers.

Fruit Cocktail Recipies

 Fruit Cocktail Salad Recipe

Healthy Heart Fruit Cocktail Recipes

Healthy Recipe for Fruit Cocktail

Find All Your Ingredients At Local Stores

 Kroger

Marsh

Trader Joe's

Have a question or a suggestion for future columns?  Email MonikaDimick@gmail.com.