How To Make a Watermelon Basket

 

Cathie




You Will Need

1 watermelon

for the rest of the fruit, mix and match as you see fit:

cantaloupe
honeydew melon
seedless grapes
peaches
nectarines
strawberries
blueberries
raspberries
blackberries
plums
oranges
etc.

for garnish:
lemon, lime or orange slices
grapes, melon balls or cherries
toothpicks

tools:
garnishing tool (pictured at right)
OR
serrated knife (jack-o-lantern carving knives work well)

melon baller
OR
simply cut the fruit into bite sized chunks


Serves: A Lot!

Since these are basic instructions, the number of servings will depend on the size of your fruit. Suffice it to say, this serves a big crowd.

Let's Carve a Watermelon!

To begin, take a sharp knife and slice a small thin piece off the bottom of your melon as shown in the photos below. This will allow the finished basket to sit flat on a plate or table without rolling.



Next, take the tip of your knife or garnishing tool and score the watermelon in half, horizontally. Then mark a strip of about 1 1/2 - 2 inches wide that will form the handle of your basket. For illustrative purposes we used a marking pen instead of scoring. If you have trouble seeing the score lines, you might also want to try this method.



Next, take your garnishing tool and start cutting around the melon on the lines. The garnishing tool naturally makes V shaped cuts, which makes doing a basket like this a breeze. If you do not have a garnishing tool, use a small knife and make the V cuts one side at a time. You could also forget the V and make straight cuts.

To make separating the melon easier, and the finished product neater, turn your garnishing tool over, and go over the cuts in the opposite direction (see photos).



Carefully separate the cut sides from the body of the watermelon. If you used a marking pen and there are any residual marks left, a handy way to get rid of them is to use a new emory board and gently sand them off.



Take a melon baller and hollow out the inside of the watermelom. After removing all the edible parts, take a large spoon and gently scrape out the sides of your "basket". Be care not to scrape too thinly on the handle, as you want it to have some stability, even though you will never try to carry it this way.



Mix the watermelon balls (or pieces, if you don't have a melon baller) with other ripe fresh fruits. To make the handle garnish, thinly slice lemons, limes or oranges and use a toothpick to affix them, along with a grape (pictured), melon ball or cherry, to the watermelon.