Let’s build a plate of fresh fruit. First, decide which shape you want to use as a font or base for your creation. I like to use a large rectangle for my creations. Oval and round plates are fine, but they tend to shorten the number of different rows of colors you can pull off. With a fine chopping knife, remove the core and clean all the different fruits.
Start by cutting both ends of the melon or pineapple, you now have a flat base to work with, then grab your knife and make your first cut down the side deep enough to expose the ripe pulp below the surface; do this in one go. Now you can see where the skin ends and maturity begins. Peel the melon in successive individual strokes, moving clockwise as you go. This is easy to do with melons, with a melon you will see a distinct change from green to orange; just keep your leaf inside the orange.
As you begin each cut, make sure you have the heel of the blade just inside the mature area and keep it there while following the contour around and down. By staying in the mature zone, in one fell swoop you avoid the need to go back and trim immature spots resulting in a hacked look. After you finish removing the skin, cut the melon in half and scoop out the seeds.
Usually melon, honeydew, and pineapple form the main base. With pineapple there are many uses for the top so if it’s in good shape I’ll set it aside for a centerpiece or side piece. It can be fully trimmed to look like a protruding spike with its off-white and green color, it can be trimmed with scissors to look like a tree that you can then have raspberries glued to the spikes, or you can take the leaves and fold them back. over themselves and it will look like a giant satin ribbon in the center of your fountain.
If I use a centerpiece I will build from that with the large fruit as a series of spokes, otherwise I like to go diagonal. I start with the pineapple, core it with a serrated copper tube, peel it, and then cut it in half. Lay flat side on board and slice thin, about a quarter inch wide. Cut both halves and then transfer to the platter. A spatula or dough knife works great for this maneuver. I flip the slices when I move them so the inside is facing up.
With the pineapple in the center in a diagonal line, you can now add a molasses to the middle of one side of the pineapple and put the second half on the other side of the pineapple. Next, add the cantaloupe on the opposite side of the pineapple from its green counterpart. Turn the melon and molasses so the inside is exposed like a bowl or cup and fan it so that there is now a yellow band on the diagonal with alternating orange and green on both sides.
If you can find it, a ripe Mexican papaya is a great addition to the next row on both sides, again inward upward. By now, the platter should be filled with the first layer of fruit. The colors are yellow, green-orange, green-orange and finally the reddish pink of ripe papayas are pulled to opposite corners.
(A word about Mexican papaya: most stores in my area sell them but put them on the shelf totally green and rock hard … don’t use it! Take it home and let it sit on the counter at room temperature! for a couple of weeks. Turn it over every other day and wait for the skin to soften. In fact, a good crop of mold will start to grow, but that’s great because it indicates that maturity is approaching. When it is soft and yet still firm, ready to cut. Trim the ends, lift it up and peel off a thin layer of skin. The mold stays on the outside and the fruit is ripe, full of flavor and beautiful color. Now you can cut it and scoop it out with a shovel. scoop out the little black seeds.)
As you fan the fruit, you can make wavy lines with it, like a kind of subtle curve. You can also place the pineapple in half to one side and the other half to the other and then push the other fruit closer to it so that it stands almost on the edge. Thin slices work much better as you can manipulate them more easily … stay to a quarter inch. The reason for placing the fruit on the plate. inner side up it is simple; you now have the fountain covered with various cup sets in which you can now get different berry colors.
If you still have some space in the corners opposite the pineapple; this is a good place to put kiwis. Peel the kiwi the same way you would a cantaloupe, the top and bottom ends outward and then out to the sides. You can make wedges or wheels, (5-6 slices / wedges per fruit) either way they do a good job of exposing that great translucent green interior. Now is the time to paint your base tray with color.
How you do it is entirely up to you; I like to make contrasts. So the molasses will get blueberries or blackberries and in the melon I will use the strawberry and raspberry reds. I like to cut the strawberries at least in half to reveal the color of the interior (and also to make sure I don’t get a worm … I got the shirt). For that extra special touch, you can also “fan” some strawberries to place anywhere you need color.
Lastly, finish your creation with a few bunches of seedless grapes spread out randomly. I love when the “champagne” or “lunchbox” grapes come out, but it’s usually only for a month or less. Another great fruit to garnish is starfruit, or starfruit, if you can find it, make sure it’s ripe. I’m not a big fan of tray oranges and avoid apples and peaches as they oxidize too quickly.