Pioneer Woman's Fruit Salad

I normally dislike any fruit salad. All that fruit mixing juices in some syrup laying around there for hours. The original fruit loses the flavor and just soaks in whatever overally sweetened syrup. Like who doesn't like fresh fruit? Why not? But if you can't get fresh or ripe fruit then I guess fruit salads are a good alternative. So if you have this issue and are looking for a really good fruit salad without it being too sweet syrup this recipe is for you. Of course by the Pioneer Woman.

Fruit Salad with Orange-Vanilla Syrup

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

">The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 vanilla bean
Fruit:
4 pints strawberries, hulled and halved
2 pints blueberries
2 cups green grapes, halved
2 cups red grapes, halved
Fresh mint leaves

Directions

Place the sugar, 1 cup water, orange zest, juice and vanilla bean in a small pan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Then bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes to thicken. Set aside to cool.

Prepare all the fruit in a large bowl, pour the cooled syrup over the top and toss together. Decorate with mint leaves and chill until ready to serve.