Creating A Fruit Platter

Summer time is the best time to enjoy an abundance of fruits everyday.  My favorite thing to bring to a friend's house is a fruit platter. It's fun to create all kinds of fruit platters.  You can get as creative as an artist is creative with his paints and brushes.  You can arrange them symmetrically, asymmetrically, diagonally, or in any other fashion which seems suitable for the occasion.

The fruit platters I created for the garden buffet on my daughter's graduation party were designed in short amount of time.  Although I would have liked to do a better job arranging them if I had more time creating them, but I must say they still added flares to the table just as flowers do. Here are a few things I learned in order to make fruit platters as appealing as possible, so consider the following: 

1.  Use fresh fruit

It's important to always use fresh fruit and prepare it on the day that you are going to consume them because the fruit doesn't stay well after it's been washed.  It's best not to use fruit that will turn dark and spoil quickly like apples or bananas if you are doing it for the first time. If you do use them, just sprinkle some citrus like orange or lemon juice to keep them from oxidizing.

2.  Use small size fruit and a platter with a raised edge

I like to peel and cut out the stems and present them in bite size pieces for the guests. You should consider cutting them in various sizes if you are not sure what you need on the platter.  Fruit is juicy, be sure to use a platter that has a raised edge to keep juices in.

3.  Design with contrasting color

I had a "castle" design in mind, but due to the limited time I had on that day, I couldn't continue with the rest of the design.  I later just arranged the fruit as I went.  The fruit I selected here are grapes, blueberries, pineapples and kiwis, and oranges.  Arranging the fruit by contrasting color is the best way if you are out of time to design them.

4.  Expand design with inedible parts of fruit

You can use an empty watermelon (or any other melon) half to present your selection of fruit. You can also use an end portion of pineapple to decorate the platter.  Here I used the pineapple stems to decorate the platter.

Here I had kiwi, strawberries, cantaloupe and watermelon on the platter.  I placed the core of a pineapple in the middle for more decoration on top.

5.  Keep fresh in refrigerator

To keep them fresh, I covered the fruit platter with saran wrap and put them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.