| Fresh Fruit for Brunch |
| Choose fruit and possibly vegetables that best compliment and complement your brunch and include your local favorites. Depending on the season there are great combinations to choose from, and of course you can always go with shipped in produce rather than fresh with great results! Be creative and relax; your guests will enjoy whatever combination you serve. |
| Spring Strawberries Blueberries Early melons-beware Mango Kiwi Grapes |
| Summer Melons Raspberries Blackberries Peaches Cherries (can be messy) Nectarines Grapes |
| Autumn Apples Grapes Pears Pineapple Bananas |
| Winter Citrus fruit Bananas Apples Grapes Pears Dried Fruits |
| Different Arrangements |
| Fruit Tray-Simple, Elegant Fruit is arranged on a platter or tray in its simplest form for serving. Apples and pears are quartered and cored, bananas are cut in half (not split) grapes are left in small bunches, pineapples are cut into large chunks, melons into large wedges, peaches and nectarines are halved and pitted, etc. |
| Fruit Salad-Beautiful and Enjoyable Fruit is cut into bite-sized pieces and mixed together. Can be simple or elegant, depending on the serving piece used. Fruit salad requires more work than a tray because most fruit needs to be cut and to be successful the salad needs diverse colors and textures. Soft and crunchy fruits go well together as well as many different colors. TIP: In a pinch, canned mandarin oranges always work well in a fruit salad and apples provide much needed "crunch". Leave the skin on apples and pears in a fruit salad. Kiwi does not tend to fare well in fruit salad as it is a very delicate fruit; if you want to add it, put it in after you have stirred the rest of the fruit together and please remove the skin (most people prefer not to eat the fur). |
| Fruit Boat-Exquisitely Elegant To really make a statement place a fruit salad in a fruit boat. These are carved out of melons or pineapples and garnished with other fruits. Boats can be in the shapes of many things, from boats to baby carriages. I started making these as a teenager, each takes a couple of hours above and beyond the time to prepare the fruit salad. You may also need special tools to create some of the special effects you have seen on other fruit boats, but most are done with very sharp thin knives . . . Which leads to my words of caution: Watermelons are very large, very slippery, very dangerous objects. If you attempt to turn one into a work of art be very careful!! It is very easy to be cut while trying to carve on a melon. TIP: Slice a thin piece off the bottom of the melon to stabilize it before you start working. If you want a fruit boat but not the trouble of making one yourself, contact your local green grocer or gourmet shop; most will custom design them for you. Please note that I take no responsibility for any injuries that may occur if you attempt to create a fruit boat yourself. |
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