Floral and feisty, tropical fruits, from pineapple to passionfruit, brighten (and lighten) up spring dessert menus in senior living…!
It was the beauty of dragonfruit that initially inspired Cura Hospitality Executive Chef Robert Grotha for a dessert at Aberdeen Heights, a Presbyterian Manors of Mid America senior living community in Kirkwood, Mo. He scoured his local grocery store for multiple varieties of the tropical fruit native to Mexico and Central America, trying red, white and golden-fleshed dragon fruit for inspiration.
“I took a vertical tasting to differentiate the different flavor profiles that they could bring to my palate so that I could serve those to my guests,” says the chef, who picked up some Buddha’s hand citrus as well. “I love how underutilized it can be and I went down the rabbit hole of Key limes and preservation methods, and Buddha’s hand is one that I wanted to kind of explore more.”
