If you still associate fruit salad with soggy strawberries or mushy papaya, it’s time to try one of these clever updates.

Grilled fruit salad

Yes, really. Grilling fruit caramelises its sugars, making it even sweeter.

To make your own, core and slice 2 pineapples, halve and stone 2 peaches, halve 150 g strawberries and peel and slice 1 papaya. Toss with the seeds of 1 split vanilla pod and ½ t ground cinnamon, then. Grill in a hot griddle pan for about 3 minutes on each side until slightly charred. If you want a bit of extra sweetness, drizzle with a coulis made by whisking the pulp of 2 granadillas, 1 cup granadilla juice, 4 T sugar and the zest of ½ lime.

Chop-chop salad

There’s no reason you can’t shake up the fruit status quo by adding a few of your favourite vegetables to the mix. Try this salad and see for yourself.

Slice 3 purple spring onions, drain 1 can lentils, halve 50 g blueberries, chop 80 g strawberries, blanch and chop 170 g asparagus and tear 100 g chevin and 10 g fresh basil, then toss with 2 t chopped parsley, balsamic vinegar and olive oil to taste, ½ clove of finely chopped garlic, salt and pepper.

Melon ball salad

You know that retro melon baller you have rattling around your cutlery drawer? Whip it out and make a pretty spectacular looking melon salad next time you’re cooking to impress.

Use the melon baller to scoop out balls from 1 watermelon, 1 spanspek and 1 canary yellow melon. Arrange on a platter with 1 shaved fennel bulb (put the shavings in iced water to make them curl), 30 g pea shoots, 2 oranges cut into wedges and a small knob of finely sliced ginger. Drizzle with 3 T extra virgin olive oil and the juice of 1 lemon, then season to taste.

Berry-and-cheese fruit salad

Cheese makes everything better, and this fruit salad proves it.

Toss 80 g watercress, 250 g sliced strawberries, 75 g raspberries, 120 g blueberries, 4 peeled and segmented oranges, 3 peeled and sliced kiwi fruit and 200 g peeled, pitted and halved litchis. Crumble over your favourite crumbly cheese. Something like Wensleydale’s cranberry cheese. To make a dressing, blend 50 g raspberries, 150 g strawberries, the juice of ½ an orange, 2 T each balsamic vinegar reduction, extra virgin olive oil and Port, then drizzle over the salad.

Short-cut fruit salad

Keeping your taste buds intrigued is a guaranteed way to fight fruit salad fatigue. If you can’t quite muster the enthusiasm to come up with new cool fruit combos first thing every morning, it’s perfectly okay to let the professionals do it for you. Choose between ready-made, portion-controlled pots including a mango, pine and orange melon snackpot, mango, citrus and berry snackpot and grape and berry snackpot.

Ready to take your fruit salad up a notch? Stock up on a variety of fresh, seasonal fruit at Woolies now.

Photographs Christoph Heierli, Michael le Grange and Jan Ras