Sugar helps in preventing the oxidization of fruit.
It counter some what tart flavor of apples and pomegranate.
It helps in marinating the fruit to get soft texture.
Most importantly suger with citrus creates fruit syrup which is an important part of fruit chat.
Bananas, apples, grapes, nectarines, pears, pomegranate all cut into cubes added to a bowl of orange juice mixed with lemon juice, guava juice, black pepper powder. And mix!
I can't stand fruit chaat with mangoes or melon pieces. They totally ruin the taste. I also can't eat fruit chaat without apples or other types of crunchy fruit.
Am I the only one who puts imli in my chaat? I chop up whatever fruit is on hand, and then in a jar, mix a couple of spoons of imli paste, sugar, lemon juice, chaat masala. Shake it up and pour it on
It ain't a fruit chaat without bananas and oranges for me. And dates too. We dice em up and mix em in the chaat; gives it a nice texture. It's incomplete without it.