Potluck Coming Up? Forget Boring Fruit Salad And Bring Bionico Instead
Posted on: 7 December 2015
Fruit salad is a great potluck dish because it's easy to prepare, travels well, and if you pick the right types of fruit (watermelon, bananas, apples), it's pretty inexpensive to make. Unfortunately, fruit salad is also kind of boring, but it doesn't have to be anymore. If you've been tasked with bringing fruit salad to a potluck event, here's how to turn the drab dish into fiesta-friendly Mexican bionico -- a versatile fruit and cream salad from the street vendors of Guadalajara that packs a punch with plenty of crunch.
Your Shopping List
Time to hit the supermarket. For every 50 people that will be at the potluck, you'll want 10-15 pounds of fruit. Authentic bionico usually includes apples, bananas, and strawberries, but don't be afraid to add papaya, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple, grapes, and/or watermelon. If you're a fan of celery, go ahead and include it.
You'll also need (per 50 people the salad will serve):
- 5 cans of sweetened condensed milk
- 5 containers of sour cream (the 16 ounce tubs)
- 1 box of granola cereal
- 1 bag of sweetened coconut
- 1 container of honey (a 12 ounce jar)
- 1 box of raisins or sultanas (15 ounce size)
Making The Bionico
Prep Your Fruit. Now for the fun part. Start by peeling any of your fruit that needs peeling, and then chop all the fruit into bite-sized chunks. Spritz the fruit lightly with lemon juice to prevent it from browning, and then set it aside.
Make Your Cream. Grab another big bowl and dump into it all of the sweetened condensed milk and sour cream you bought. Grab your beaters or a whisk and blend the mixture until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Assemble Salad. Now dump your chopped fruit into your sweetened condensed milk and sour cream mixture, and fold it gently in with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Next, dump the bowl into a large, square aluminum tray so you've got plenty of surface area for the toppings.
Top It. To finish off your bionico, sprinkle the shredded coconut, granola cereal, and raisins or sultanas evenly over the top, and then drizzle the entire dish with a generous amount of golden honey.
Make Ahead Variation
Bionico is best served the day it's mixed, so if you plan on getting most of the work associated with the recipe done the day before the party, here's what you do:
Chop your fruit, sprinkle with lemon juice, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Go ahead and mix your sweetened condensed milk and sour cream, but don't add the fruit to it. Instead, store it separately in a sealed container in the fridge. Toss your coconut, raisins or sultanas, and granola together and keep on your counter in a large, sealed plastic bag.
The morning of the potluck, assemble all of the prepared ingredients, or keep them in their individual containers and set up a make-your-own bionico station on a potluck table and encourage party-goers to put their own dessert together.
An Even Easier Option
If the above recipe seems a bit out of your cooking comfort zone, that doesn't mean you can't still treat the good folks at the upcoming potluck to this unique take on fruit salad. As mentioned above, this dish is native to Guadalajara and is popular all across Mexico and in many Mexican restaurants in America. Contact your nearest Mexican take-out restaurant and ask if they can prepare a party-sized platter of bionico that you can pick up on your way to the potluck. Print out this article and take it with you, though, because there's a very good chance that the other party-goers will be requesting the recipe once they try this delightful dish. For more information about this dish, contact a Mexican restaurant near Tucson AZ.
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