DIY Curving Fruits Ideas

Lets build a fresh fruit platter. First decide what shape you want to use as a platter or base for your creation. I like to use a large rectangle for my creations. Ovals and round platters are okay but they tend to abbreviate the amount of different rows of colors you can achieve. Using a thin slicing knife, core and clean all of the different fruits.

Start by cutting off both ends of the melon or pineapple, now you have a flat base to work with, next take your knife and make your first cut down the side just deep enough to expose the ripe flesh below the surface; do this in one long stroke. Now you are able to see where the skin ends and the ripeness begins. Peel the melon in successive single strokes, moving the melon clockwise as you go. This is easy to do with melons, with a cantaloupe you will see a distinct change from green to orange; simply keep your blade just inside the orange.

As you start each cut be sure that you have the heel of your blade just inside the ripe area and keep it there as you follow the contour around and down. By staying in the ripe area, with a single stroke you avoid the need to go back and trim off the unripe spots with a resulting hacked appearance. After you finish removing the skin, cut the melon in half and scoop out the seeds.

Typically cantaloupe, honeydew and pineapple form the main base. With pineapple there are many uses for the top so if it is in good shape I will set it aside for a centerpiece or a side piece. It can be totally trimmed to look like a spike sticking up with its whitish and green color, it can be trimmed with scissors to look like a tree which can then have raspberries stuck on the spikes, or you can take the leaves and fold them back on themselves and it will look like a giant satin ribbon in the center of your platter.