DIY Carving Fruits and Vegetables

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The purpose of fruit and vegetable carving is to make food more attractive, more appetizing, and also easier to eat. The accomplished homemaker welcomes her guests with fruit carefully pared, seeded, and perhaps cut into bite size slices depending on the type. Vegetables are first delicately carved, then cooked, and finally arranged attractively to decorate the dish which they are part of. Needless to say, guests are greatly pleased to be honored with such a gracious welcome, displaying as it does the good feelings and willing hospitality of the maker.

Decorating fresh, well formed, and colorful fruits and vegetables through artistic carving is by no means difficult all it takes is concentration. Starting out, there is no need for special carving knives one sharp pointed knife is enough to carve fruits and vegetables beautifully.

Before carving, fruits and vegetables must be washed and cleaned thoroughly. Use knives with stainless steel or bronze blades. Knives with ordinary steel blades will cause discoloration of fruits and vegetables. Do not carve excessively so as to avoid waste and loss of nutritional value.

The designs carved should be appropriate for decorating a plate of food; thus, floral patterns are suitable, while figures of animals such as rats are not. Vegetables to be dipped into sauces should be cut to appropriate sizes. Vegetables chosen for carving should be appropriate to the dish in which they are to be used, and they should be vegetables which are resistant to wilting, such as carrots and Chinese radishes.

Your Care must be exercised during carving so as to avoid bruising fruit and vegetables.

Most designs require nothing more than a sharp paring knife and a fruit or vegetable of your choice. With enough practice, you can turn these simple ingredients into everything from attractive garnishes.

Carving a Melon Bowl

Select a melon. You may use any melon with a firm, hard rind, and no noticeable bruising or soft spots. Watermelons are often used for this purpose due to their size, but any large, hard melon will work.

Slice a small portion off the base of the melon. Use the sharpest knife you have, for best control over the carving. Begin by using the knife to cut a small section on one end of the melon, so it will remain in one position. You may stand the melon vertically, or lie an elongated melons on its side for a longer bowl.

Draw a pattern on the melon. Use a fine permanent market to trace a pattern onto the melon, such as the silhouette of a swan head and wings. You may draw a pattern freehand, but many people prefer to cut out a paper stencil and trace it.

Cut along the pattern. Insert the knife into the rind anywhere on the permanent marker lines, and methodically cut through the entire pattern. Depending on the hardness of the rind and the sharpness of the knife, you may slice along the pattern, or use a back-and-forth sawing motion. Be sure to cut through the entire rind, into the flesh underneath.

Remove the remaining rind. Once the whole pattern is cut out, the portions of the rind that won't stay on the melon can be removed. If necessary, make an additional round or oblong cut around the top of the melon, in order to open it up into a bowl shape. Carefully pull these portions off the melon, wiggling or cutting if necessary to detach it from the melon flesh inside.

Hollow out the melon. Use a melon baller to remove all the flesh from the melon. Scrape the inside surfaces so only the rind remains, or a thin layer of flesh if you enjoy the variation in color.