Soak your fruit salad in orange liqueur

Growing up, chilled canned Fruit Cocktail presented in a pretty bowl — my mom ever careful to make sure both my sister and I each got the same number of the few and much-desired cherries — or a canned pear half served with a dollop of mayonnaise and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar were both common endings to our weekday evening family meals. (Though, my sister and I respectfully asked for our pears sans mayo and cheese.) 

In "Bibi's Gulf Coast Kitchen," columnist Bibi Hutchings takes you on a culinary journey across the coastal south. Come for the great food writing, stay for the delicious recipes.

If you grew up in the 70s and 80s as I did, you remember the fruit salads of that time. Whether made into elaborate Jell-O molds or adorned with mini-marshmallow, or slathered with some white concoction that generally included mayonnaise, canned fruit was the starting point for any respectable fruit salad. In fact, the fancier the fruit salad, the farther away from simple, plain, natural fruit you were.