The 2-Ingredient Fix To Jazz Up Any Canned Fruit

Opening up a can of pineapple or oranges isn't quite the same as serving up something fresh. Canned fruits are worth stocking in your pantry, but sometimes the taste can leave something to be desired. When you bite into a canned peach or pear, the flavor often falls flat, and your mouth isn't met with a variety of flavors and textures like it is when you're eating the fruit's fresh counterpart. Often, you get hit with quite a bit of sweetness, but that's about it, as the flavor doesn't have much depth.

Since you can't do much about the texture of canned fruit, you can make it a little more interesting by adding some extra flavor. You can easily create a burst of zest by adding just two ingredients to your canned fruit: lime juice and chili powder. Popular in Mexico, this combination adds a tangy and spicy flavor to your fruit. While not necessary, adding in some salt as well can really bring the flavor combination home.

You don't need much to liven up your canned fruit. In fact, add too much lime juice or chili powder, and you risk overpowering the fruit. Adding just a splash of lime juice gives a bit of extra zing and flavor to the fruit. Sometimes, canned fruit can taste overly sweet, especially if it's canned in syrup. The acidity of the added lime juice can cut into that sweetness and add some dimension to the taste. The acidic citrus can even work to bring out some of those natural flavors found in the fruit.

The chili powder brings a bit of heat that can also cut into sweet canned fruit. Together, the lime juice and chili powder create a sharp flavor that can really liven it up. As with the lime juice, start with just a dash and add more if you're still looking for some extra flavor and dimension. This flavor combination is so popular in Mexico it has long been sold as a prepackaged seasoning called Tajín. (It's available in the U.S. as well.) The seasoning consists of chili peppers, lime, and sea salt and was invented in 1985. The combination of lime juice and chili powder is especially delicious on tropical fruits like watermelon and mango, but you can try it on any canned fruit. You can also try dicing up a few different types of canned fruit to make a flavor-rich fruit salsa.