fruit are?

Fruit is a category of food, so it can be used as a singular here. I really like all the fresh fruit at the market.

Fruit can either be used in singular or plural contexts.
Mary and John like different kinds of fruits.
Mary's favorite fruit is mango
John's favorite fruits are orange and watermelon

changelingFresh fruit are what makes this dessert figure-friendly

Your sentence is fine.
CB

Cool Breeze

changelingFresh fruit are what makes this dessert figure-friendly

Sorry! I see problems with this sentence. Fresh Fruit - inferring a category is singular in nature. "are" is somewhat reluctant in my opinion.
Also, even assumming "are "is correct, then "makes" is disagreein

GoodmanAlso, even assumming "are "is correct, then "makes" is disagreeing with the previous verb, "are".

Of course it disagrees with are because it has nothing to do with it. The subject of makes is the relative pronoun what. According to most dictionaries, Webster's among them, fruit

I am not persuaded enough to use "fruit" as plural, I have nothing more to add.
Howevre, as I said in last post " Fresh Fruit - inferring a category is singular in nature in my view. "Are" is somewhat reluctant in my opinion.
I would either say" fresh fruits are important part of our balanced diet"
or, "fresh fruit" is an important of of our balanced diet". Sorry to differ!

'are' sounds odd to me

Cut out the 'fresh' and try it.

Would you really say 'fruit are what make this dessert...' or 'fruit is what makes this dessert'.

We are talking of a very specific group of fruit here, not just any old fruits, these are the fruit that are in this dessert. A single group of fruit.

I would agree that "makes" should stay singular to correspond to "what," even if the subject of the sentence is plural. However, I think "fruit" is singular. I can't think of a context in which I would say "fruit are." Here are some sentences that are okay, in my opinion:

Fruit is what makes this dessert special.

Fruit makes this dessert very special.

Cherries are wh

Say:
Fresh fruit is what makes this dessert special.

Enough said.

fruit is singular: Fruit is good for you; The tree bears fruit (not fruits).

The plural fruits is used in talking about different types of fruit: oranges, mangoes and other fruits.

(Times-Chambers Junior Dictionary)