How to Make a Fruit Bouquet

Tips

• The best fruits are strawberries, grapes, pineapples, melons, mandarin pieces (as they are both dainty and strong enough to withstand carving), and other non mushy fruit.
• Grapes can be left whole and threaded onto sticks (kebab sticks or drink swizzle sticks) to allow them to stick up like twigs.
• Fruits that won't work includes bananas and apples because they will go brown in the air. You can try lemon juice on them but they will not have the same lasting power as the other fruits.
• Raspberries and other soft berries are difficult to work with unless hard. You need to judge the durability of the fruit and the purpose you wish to give it in your display.
• Be patient. This is an art and it takes time to learn, especially to figure out which colors and textures work best.

Warnings

• Make sure that the container is food-grade and is clean and not contaminated with any paint or other residues.
• Be careful when cutting fruit shapes to hold the knife steadily and keep fingers out of the way of the knife coming down.
• Do not let the florist's foam come into direct contact with the food. Instead wrap the foam completely in plastic wrap.

Things You'll Need

• Various fruits
• A good kitchen knife that you feel comfortable handling when undertaking shape cutting; a smaller knife is preferable
• A container such as a basket, a bowl, a ceramic container, a glass, a jar or a vase
• Florist's foam
• Clear plastic wrap
• Tissue paper to rest over the foam and over edges of container, in a color matching your color theme
• Toothpicks, kebab sticks, swizzle sticks, etc. for the fruit to be poked onto
• Additional decorations if desired
• Patience