Fire 'N Fruit

This time of year everyone is enjoying grilling their favorite meats and of course, seafood. This summer use your barbecue for more that just the main course. Fire that grill up for dessert! Grilled fruit is a wonderful way to finish off a delicious summer feast. It’s light and absolutely delicious — not to mention, fun to make. When you heat fruit you not only enhance the flavor but soften the texture. In addition, the process of heating caramelizes the fruit…adding beautiful color and taste to your favorite fruits.

Grilling fruit over a gas grill is easy and convenient, but grilling fruit over a charcoal grill will add additional flavor you can’t achieve with gas. Choose fruit that is barely ripe — this will make it easier to handle on the grill and you won’t compromise any flavor. If you’re making kebabs, try threading two skewers through the fruit to prevent the fruit from spinning.

To add flavor, try rubbing spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and/or allspice on the fruit. You can also experiment with various marinades. Try this month’s Grilled Fruit Kebabs for a wonderful example of using both the spice rub and the marinade. The taste will amaze you! If you are looking for something really easy and quick, try Grilled Bananas…delicious on their own or sliced and served over gf vanilla ice cream.

The beauty of this is that it is hard to go wrong. Just about any fruit will work, from nectarines and melons, to citrus fruits and bananas. Be creative, try different spice or herb variations or marinate fruit in juices or alcohols like brandy or rum.

Tip: Make sure that your grill is clean…you don’t want to taste last nights dinner on your fruit. Also, it helps to have some sort of fat in your marinade (butter or oil) to prevent the fruit from sticking to the grill.

– Glutenfreeda