Half-Savory Fruit Salad

I really like fruit salads in the summer. I especially like them after they've had a chance to sit in fridge so they are ice cold on a hot day. What I don't like about them is that sickly sweet syrup bathing most of them. Over sweet things make me feel ill at the best of times.

I ran across a recipe for a Mexican salad where the only sweetness comes from the fruit and where the fruit is only half the vegetables. The recipe I found uses raw jicama. While there was nothing wrong with it, either jicama isn't very interesting raw or I didn't get a good specimen.

Even though it wasn't the perfect recipe, I am working on a master recipe for a half-savory fruit salad. This is a work in progress but it goes like this:

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 pound other crisp vegetable, peeled, seeded and chopped  (Jicama, daikon, kohlrabi, raw potato etc, or another cucumber)
2 cups fruit, chopped if necessary
1/2 cup acid (lime juice or lemon juice is nice but I plan to play with some vinegars)
1 tsp dried spice or 1/2 cup fresh herb (the recipe suggests a dried ground chile but just about anything can work here. dried: cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, chile powder, cayenne, allspice, cloves, etc. Fresh: mint, parsley, cilantro, basil, even oregano etc. Depending on the strength of the spice or herb the amount will have to be adjusted. Cloves, for example, are really pungent so use less)
 salt and pepper to taste

Directions: mix everything in a bowl except fresh herbs if using. Let sit at least 30 minutes. Add fresh herbs, if using, right before serving.