Mint Lime Summer Fruit Salad

I saw this gorgeous salad on Finding Vegan the other day, and just had to try it. I have to admit, I actually don't like papaya all that much- I think it's kind of tasteless and doesn't have the best texture. BUT, this salad changed my impression.... mint, lime, and maple syrup to the rescue! (Ok, actually, I used agave syrup rather than the original recipe's maple syrup, but the taste is very similar). Here's my take:

Recipe adapted from The Family Kitchen's post.
Makes approximately 5-6 cups.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium papaya cubed (remove the skin & seeds)
• 1 sliced banana
• 1 sliced yellow peach
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 limes
  
• 2-3 Tbsp fined chopped fresh mint
• 2 Tbsp agave (or maple) syrup

Steps:

1. Chop all the fruit and the mint. Zest 1 or both limes.
   
2. Place the papaya in a bowl and toss in the agave syrup. Juice the limes and add that to the papaya mix.
   
3. Add the rest of the fruit, the mint, and most of the lime zest, and toss gently.
4. Garnish with the rest of the zest!

Note: I also added mango to this salad, because I love it so much and I had one. It's a nice addition! I think you could easily switch out the papaya for mango, and omit the syrup altogether. But if you're using papaya, the syrup is a must. I changed the steps a bit to allow the syrup to mainly soak into the papaya.