Recently I made center pieces made of fruit for Thanksgiving. They are visually appealing and double as an appetizer too! This is how you make one.
Fill a basket, vase or ceramic container with floral foam. If you use a basket you will need something to weight the bottom or it will fall over as the fruit is picked. Wash and prepare the strawberries, cantelope, blackberries, strawberries, pineapple and honeydew melon. You will need a flower shaped cookie cutter for the pineapple and a melon baller tool for the honeydew and cantelope. When choosing fruits pick the produce that is of medium ripeness. Too ripe, and the juicy morsels will fall right off the skewers.
Soak bamboo skewers in water for 15 minutes or so. Then place them one at a time into the floral foam to look like flower stems. Carefully slide the fruit on to look like flowers in a vase. After the flowers are all in the perfect spots, cover the bottoms of the stems and floral foam with kale or parsley. Lettuce can be used but it will wilt more quickly.
You will need to have a large space cleared out in your refrigerator ahead of time to keep the fruit bouquet cool. If it's chilly this time of year in your neck of the woods, keep them on a table in the garage covered gently with plastic wrap or garbage bags.
I was extremely happy with my creation and got rave reviews for my efforts. The best one was, "Will you make this again for Christmas?"
If you were to purchase an item like this that was made professionally, it would cost $80 to $100 for just one fruit bouquet!
