Fresh Fruit Platter Extraordinaire

Fresh Fruit Platters and Fruit Trays Don’t Have to Be Boring and Lifeless. There Are Many Ways to Make Them Look Extraordinary and Elicit Those “Wow” Moments! We Give You the Ultimate Fruit Platter Presentation Ideas and How to Put It Together.

3 Must Have Kitchen Utensils

There are so many different fruit platter presentation ideas out there but for the purposes of this specific recipe, I used 3 utensils that I have had in my kitchen for the longest time and definitely my go to utensils when I’m making decorative fruit platters.

Cookie Cutters

Cookie cutters make for the best and most fun kitchen utensils when preparing fruit trays. I bought myself a small set of cookie cutters in generic shapes but of varying sizes. It is incredible how people are always commenting about how cute a piece of fruit is just because its been cut into the shape of a heart or star. The kids love the fruit which are in tiny shapes. They tell me they taste better. LOL!

Melon Baller

I have a double ended melon baller of 2 different sizes. And although they are known as melon ballers, I don’t only use them for melons. They can of course be used to ball any fruit that may be soft enough. I do tend to use the smaller end more often as it reduces wastage and also some fruits are too small to use the big scoop e.g. dragon fruits and kiwi fruits.

Small Sharp Knife

Although this may sound like a no brainer, it is important to have one that is small enough to be used for the smaller pieces of fruit if you wish to make a certain cut. Some fruit may be soft and therefore a very sharp knife is vital to ensure you don’t inadvertently squish the fruit because you’re unable to cut through it easily.

How to Make Kiwi Flowers

I’m sure you’ve seen kiwi fruit cut into a floral shapes and this simple fruit platter presentation idea is easy to do and they look so gorgeous. Partly because the black seeds against the green or gold coloured flesh in itself is so pretty.

Lay the kiwi fruit flat on the chopping board. Using a small, sharp knife (paring knife size), pierce the kiwi at an angle right in the middle of the fruit. When the knife goes through the flesh, ensure it hits the bottom of the chopping board so that you know it’s cut right through. Do the same again, at the same angle about 2cm apart. Continue this all the way around the fruit.

When you have completed one round, turn the knife and cut through in the opposite angle between the 2 initial cuts of the opposite direction. Essentially what you’re doing is creating a zigzag pattern all the way around the fruit.

Once you have done so, pull the 2 ends apart and you’ll get your kiwi flower!

You can pretty much do this for any fruit. The bigger the fruit, the bigger the knife. Fruit with pits or stones, you can just cut the top end to create the same effect.

How to Use the Cookie Cutters

This is my favourite part! It’s so much fun and if you have kids, they’ll really enjoy this process.

There are 2 things to consider when using the cookie cutter. Firstly, ensure the fruit is soft enough for you to be able to push the cookie cutter through. It’s important they are not too soft either as the small cookie cutters will just turn them into mush. Secondly, slice the fruit to no more than the height of the cookie cutter. No point cutting the fruit so thick, the cookie cutter can’t reach through!

Quick tip: After using the cookie cutter to cut the shape I am after, I use a chopstick to push the fruit out of the cookie cutter. Works every time!

There are so many creative ways you can use the cookie cutter. Some interesting methods include:

• Cut out different shapes with different fruits.
• Cut out a shape from the fruit and display the fruit with the cut-out portion.
• Use the larger cookie cutter to cut out a shape and then use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out a small shape within it.
• Exchanging fruits. Below you’ll see I cut out a floral shape from the green and gold kiwi fruits and then changed over the cut-out fruit. So, the gold kiwi had a green insert and vice versa.

How to Slice Strawberry Fans

I have been cutting strawberry fans for years and love how it displays on a fresh fruit platter.

This process is easier done on larger strawberries as you’ll be able to see the spread of the slices more distinctively. You can choose to leave the leaves and stems on if you wish.

Hold the top of the strawberry steadily. Using a small sharp knife, slice the strawberries from one end to another, without cutting through to the top. Essentially, the top end of the fruit, remains intact. But you do want to get as close as possible to the top as you can.

When completed, spread them out gently and lay it flat in a fan shape.

How to Remove Mandarin Piths

Not all fruit needs to be cut up or de-segmented. Present them as a whole and you’ll get a different shape for the decorative fruit tray. In this instance, I wanted to present the mandarins as a whole. To make it presentable, I needed to remove the pith from around the mandarin.

Most of the mandarins you find that have their piths removed have been done so using an enzyme. They place the peeled fruit into a bowl or jar of water. Add some of this enzyme and it eats the pith away so that the segment is completely free of the piths and looks absolutely perfect. But although it looks spectacular, I’m not entirely comfortable using an enzyme just to make something look pretty.

So, I just do it the old school way and even though it’s not 100% perfect, I reckon it’s pretty close! Really looks great on a fresh fruit platter and its easy for guests to just grab and go.

Using a small sharp knife (see, it pays to have a good knife!) I scrape the piths off. I start at the top of the mandarin and gently scrape downwards and pull off the piths as I go. Even the most stubborn piths give away after a few goes. Also scrape from the other end of the mandarin to ensure all sides are covered. Sometimes I have to put the tip of the knife in between the segments to nick off some of the stubborn piths.

No magic method here. Just good old fashioned knife skills.

Cut Fruit in Wheels and Different Shapes

For some reason, we automatically cut fruit in almost the same way each time. Why do oranges have to be cut in wedges all the time for example? For this fresh fruit platter, I cut the blood oranges into wheels and wedges so that I would have different shapes and sizes.

This is where a melon baller also comes in handy. If you’re using watermelon for example, ball some of them, use a cookie cutter for some of it and you can also leave some of it in wedges like you would normally have them. Balling fruit is a great way to create a shape you would not normally have for a fruit platter.

Using Flowers

Flowers and fruit go incredibly well together in terms of presenting a simple fruit platter. Edible flowers are simply gorgeous and they elevate the fruit platter tremendously. Not to mention the colours it adds to it.

Why I Love Fresh Fruit Platter Extraordinaire

I love making this fresh fruit platter because my family and friends LOVE it! They all think it looks absolutely stunning. And to be honest, I’m not re-inventing the wheel whatsoever. People have been cutting out fruit shapes for years and certainly placing the odd flowers here and there is hardly revolutionary!

At the end of the day, I think it’s just beautiful.

But I do understand that one can look at a fruit platter like this and feel overwhelmed and think it’s difficult to execute or not know where to start. Not to worry, follow my instructions below and you’ll be fine.

How to Make Fresh Fruit Platter Extraordinaire

Prepare an Off-cut Bowl

As we will not be using many parts of the fruit as they will be considered as “off cuts”, get a big bowl ready for the off cuts. So as not to waste any part of the fruit, you can use the fruit for a basic chopped up fruit salad or in my case, I always make smoothies out of them.

Prepare the Kiwi Fruit

Let’s make kiwi flowers with 2 green kiwis and 2 gold kiwis. As mentioned above, lay the kiwi fruit flat on the chopping board. Using a small, sharp knife, pierce the kiwi at an angle right in the middle of the fruit. When the knife goes through the flesh, ensure it hits the bottom of the chopping board so that you know it’s cut right through. Do the same again, at the same angle about 2cm apart. Continue this all the way around the fruit.

When you have completed one round, turn the knife and cut through in the opposite angle between the 2 initial cuts of the opposite direction. Essentially what you’re doing is creating a zigzag pattern all the way around the fruit.

Once you have done so, pull the 2 ends apart and you’ll get your kiwi flower!

With the remaining kiwi fruit, leave the skin on and cut them into wheels. For some of the wheels, cut out shapes. Separate the wheels with the cut-out shape and the actual cut-out itself.

For the other wheels, cut out a shape from each of the gold and green kiwi fruit. Then exchange the insert so the gold has the green kiwi fruit insert and vice versa. I always get a few giggles when my friends see what I have done.

Prepare the Strawberry Fans

For half the strawberries, hold the top of the strawberry steadily. Using a small sharp knife, slice the strawberries from one end to another, without cutting through to the top. Essentially, the top end of the fruit, remains intact. But you do want to get as close as possible to the top as you can.

When completed, spread them out gently and lay it flat in a fan shape.

For the remaining half of the strawberries, cut them in half or thirds, depending on how big they are, and using a cookie cutter, cut out some shapes. Set those shapes aside. Put the outer part of the fruit into the off-cut bowl.

Slice the Cantaloupe

Remove the skin and seeds. Slice them into thin slices.

Remove Mandarin Pith

Use a small sharp knife to scrape the piths off. Start at the top of the mandarin and gently scrape downwards and pull off the piths as you go. Even the most stubborn piths will give away after a few goes. Also scrape from the other end of the mandarin to ensure all sides are covered.

Prepare the Rest of The Fruit

Cut one blood orange into wheels and the rest into wedges

Cut the passion fruit in half.

Thinly slice the apples and pears. Place the slices in a bowl of salted water to stop it from turning brown. Pat dry when you’re ready to use.

Remove the skin and the melon seeds and discard. Cut the cantaloupe in half, lengthwise. Slice them thinly and set aside.

For the yellow watermelon, cut it in half. For the first half use the larger cookie cutter to cut out shapes. For the second half, slice them into large triangles with the rind still on as you normally would.

How to Assemble the Fresh Fruit Platter

So how do we make this fruit tray? The first thing you need is a flat surface. You’ll need a platter that is flat or even a large wooden board.

The first thing you need to do is to place the large yellow watermelon triangles at the bottom of the platter to create the base.

Fill the spaces between the watermelon with the larger fruits such as blood orange wedges, cantaloupe slices, kiwi flowers and passionfruit halves.

Then strategically place all the other fruit around the platter. And by strategically, I mean spread each fruit out evenly. You don’t want one specific fruit clustered in one section. We want a spread of colours across the board. You can sprinkle the small fruit that have been cut out in shapes along with blueberries on top.

When you’re done, place the platter on the floor. I know this sounds ridiculous but it will allow you to see it better from top down and work out if the fruits are all placed evenly around the platter and the colours are all spread out.

Once that is done, place the edible flowers in between the fruit.

The best comment you can get from anyone is “this is way too pretty to eat”! And that is exactly what you’re aiming for. This decorative fruit platter is fantastic for special occasions or if you simply want fruit to be presented beautifully. Once you give this a go, I guarantee that you’ll look at fruit trays so differently. Go on! Go create the most stunning fruit platter you’ve ever put together!

That’s All!

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More Dessert Fruit Salad Recipes:

Red and Green Fruit Salad with Vanilla Persian Fairy Floss

Melon Salad with Maple Syrup and Lime Dressing

Berry Salad with Sumac Dusted Meringues

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