SOUTH SALT LAKE — It takes a creative person to see a basket where others see a watermelon, a vase where some see a pineapple, and the makings for a sheep where the untrained see cauliflower and cloves.
Natalie Snow, a culinary instructor at Orson Gygi in South Salt Lake, views fruits and vegetables as the makings for beautiful displays to be both seen and consumed. For beginning and advanced garnishing classes she instructs, Snow uses her background in graphic design to make ordinary fruits and vegetables into eye-pleasing, edible centerpieces.
Though she has spent upward of eight hours carving a single watermelon into a swan, Snow says there are many simple projects that will make family and friends "think you're so amazing. ... It's not as hard as you think."
The right fruit and the right tools are the most important things to take to the counter when it's time to start carving, Snow says. It's best to choose fruits that are not quite ripe so they will be firm when they're cut. Snow instructs her students to buy fruit — at the earliest — the day before they're going to be used, because "fruit is unpredictable and ripens at different rates." Melons, strawberries, grapes and pineapple bring colorful variety and are good options for many projects.
Sharp knives are also important, as well as a having a few specialty kitchen gadgets. "You can do a lot with just a few tools," she says. Snow recommends picking up from a kitchen supply store a crinkle cutter — a wavy-shaped blade with a handle, a zig-zag cutter — a serrated V-shape tool, a melon baller and a few small paring knives.
Here's a look at how to make some eye-popping edible displays.
Melon basket
Here's what you'll need:
1 large watermelon
Washable marker
Zig-zag cutting tool (optional)
Pieces of fruit to fill the basket
To make a melon basket, Snow recommends selecting a watermelon or large canteloupe. With the melon lying on its side, cut a thin slice of rind off the ugly side — if there is one — to stabilize it so it doesn't roll around. Using a washable marker, lightly draw horizontal guidelines all the way around the melon. The line should be a little more than halfway up from the bottom. Draw two vertical lines 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart across the top of the melon; this will become the handle of the basket. Starting at the horizontal guidelines, use a zig-zag tool to cut the melon. Then cut along the vertical lines.
Carefully remove the cut-out sections (they may need to be cut into smaller pieces in order to remove them more easily). Cut out some of the remaining fruit using a melon baller, but be careful not to take out too much of the rind, as doing so will weaken the basket.
Snow recommends using a crinkle cutter to chop the melon from the sections you removed "to give it a little extra something."
Arrange other fruit — grapes, cut canteloupe, pineapple, watermelon, kiwi and strawberries — in the basket. It's important to note that the basket is a decorative piece, not intended to be carried by its handle.
Fruit spray
Here's what you'll need
2 to 4 melons (honeydew, watermelon or cantaloupe)
Flower- or star-shaped cookie cutters
A bunch of grapes
Strawberries
Bamboo skewers
Head of lettuce
Hollowed out pineapple or similar-shaped vase
Cut 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick slices from any type of melon — watermelon, honeydew or cantaloupe — getting as much flesh without seeds as you can.
Using flower- or star-shaped cookie cutters, cut the melon into various shapes.
To assemble a flower, take a nickel-size piece of rind and stick it on a bamboo skewer to keep the fruit from sliding down. Push the "flower" on top of the rind and top it off with a strawberry or a grape. Repeat the process until you have as many flowers as you want.
Use different size shapes and color combinations to add visual interest. Snow also likes to fill a few skewers with only grapes to use as fillers in the arrangement.
Take a hollowed-out pineapple shell or a container with a similar shape and place a head of lettuce in the bottom, so you have a place to stick the skewers. If the lettuce is too big for the container, cut it down with a knife until it fits. Arrange the "flowers" in the container.
Sheep
Here's what you'll need:
1 head of cauliflower
Black olives
Black-eyed peas
Cloves
Toothpicks
Take a large floret of cauliflower and pull it apart until it's the size you want, about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Trim the stem as close as you can without ruining the integrity of the floret.
Push four cloves into the remaining stock on the underside to make the legs.
Make two small slits in an olive, and into them wedge black-eyed peas for the sheep's eyes. Break a toothpick in half and push it into the cauliflower; stick the olive head on the toothpick. Finish off your sheep by adding another clove for the tail.
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When you're finished with your baskets or fruit spray, Natalie Snow, a culinary instructor at Orson Gygi in South Salt Lake, recommends getting out a big tray and placing your fruit carving in the center.
Line the tray with dark leaf lettuce and pile other pieces of fruit around it. Snow says she likes to keep the fruit arranged by type and separated by lettuce. You can also cut melons in half with a zig-zag cutter and fill the halves with smaller fruits , such as grapes or strawberries. She recommends getting help when it's time to move the tray to the table, as it would be a shame to drop it. "That's never fun," Snow says.
E-mail: mfarmer@desnews.com