Cheddar Fruit Salad

Cabot Creamery is a family-farmer owned cooperative of 1200+ farms located all throughout New England & New York. 100% of its profits go back to the farmers, and their cheddar cheese is a protein-rich snack that’s naturally lactose-free (which iss especially wonderful for my possibly-lactose-intolerant-self).

Cabot cheddar cheese is made from high quality cows’ milk that’s gathered from Cabot’s farmer-owners, pasteurized, and then poured into a temperature-controlled vat. They add a starter culture of lactic acid to the milk, and when the milk is ready to be turned into cheese, they add a coagulating enzyme to form cheese curds, which are then cut, stirred and pressed together to form blocks of cheddar!

I really love that they’re big on sustainability! The whey that’s drained from the cheese curds is converted into whey powder (hooray for no waste!), and they also partner with an energy company to generate renewable energy + reduce greenhouse gas emissions while supporting small-scale farming! By mixing and digesting manure and feedstock, they produce 21,000 MWh of electrical energy, 7040 MMBTUs of thermal energy, and 30,000 tons of liquid fertilizer! (Yay for Cow Power!)

Here’s a fun little graphic from their site! :]

As a Recipe ReDux member, the challenge was to create a healthier snack. I received a bunch of awesome cheese samples from Cabot Creamery, so I figured I’d use em’ to make all sorts of awesome goodness!

Find out more about Cabot Creamery + connect with them on their social media platforms!

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

My friends are always rather overjoyed whenever I happen to acquire free food of any sort, because they invariably benefit from it by becoming my very-willing guinea pigs. <3 Since I don’t use cheese all that often in my recipes, this has been a much-needed challenge! Fruit has always been a favorite of mine, so making a nutritious and protein-packed fruit salad came into mind. :] When I had a free weekend and went to visit/help out my friend at Please Save A Cat, I brought my cheese collection with me so that we could continue on our food adventures and kitchen experiments!

If you wanted to, substituting mangoes in place of the pineapple would probably be really awesome in this too. (We were looking for a super-sweet fruit to balance everything out.) There unfortunately weren’t any ripe mangoes at the grocery store though, so yay for pineapples instead!

By posting this recipe, I am entering a recipe challenge sponsored by Cabot Creamery and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.

Cheddar Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 Jonagold apple, diced
• 1 Granny Smith apple, diced
• 5 oz. canned pineapple
• 1 kiwi, sliced
• 1/4 lb. red seedless grapes, diced
• 4 oz. Cabot Sharp Yellow Cheddar Cheese, cubed
• 1/2 cup Cabot Plain Greek-style yogurt
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/4 cup almonds, sliced
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Start with fruit that has already been chilled. Dice the apples + grapes.
2. Drain the pineapples and reserve 2 tbsp diced pineapple. Mix in the remainder of the diced fruit.
3. Add 1/2 the pecans.
4. Mix cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon with the yogurt and toss in with the fruit.
5. Add all but 2 tbsp of the cheddar.
6. Pour into serving bowl. Slice kiwis and place slices on top of salad.
7. Place remainder of grapes + pineapple on top, then sprinkle in remainder of pecans.
8. Serve chilled!

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