Fruit Salad With Apple Vanilla Syrup

Kozmic Blues's Note:

This fruit salad is amazing, and there is NO ADDED sugar to the syrup because it's made with 100% pure apple juice. The colors of the strawberries, blueberries and mangoes together are absolutely beautiful. This is now my new signature "summer" dish that people ask me to bring to picnics and cook outs. I found this in Vegetarian times. It was mentioned that the vanilla apple syrup alone can be used as a sweetener for plain yogurt, iced tea or cocktails, in place of simple syrup made with sugar.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

Apple Vanilla Syrup

• 2 cups apple juice
• 2 slices lemon zest
• ¼ vanilla bean

Fruit Salad

• 2 medium mangoes , peeled and diced
• 1 pint strawberry , stems removed, quartered
• 1 pint blueberries

Directions:

1. Place apple juice and lemon zest in a pot.
2. Slice the vanilla bean in half, and scape out the seeds into the juice. Add bean pod to the pot as well.
3. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
4. Reduce to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes, or until mixture is syrup-like and reduced to 1/3 cup.
5. Remove lemon zest and vanilla bean, and cool to room temperature.
6. Sometimes I strain the cooled syrup through a mesh strained if there are pieces of the bean pod still left behind.
7. Toss mangoes, strawberries and blueberries with the syrup and serve.