My Mom always carves a watermelon basket for parties, showers and summer soirees. It makes such a nice centerpiece that you hardly need any other table decorations. She's a pro at it, and although I have witnessed her making many a basket, I have never carved one on my own. For a Memorial Day barbecue yesterday, I decided to pick up the knife and try my hand at fruit carving. Although my basket garnered lots of compliments (pictured above), I think that Mom's basket (pictured below) still takes the cake!
I spent about 2 hours carving and assembling the basket. (I did have help from my sister-in-law Jennifer cutting up all of the fruit, so I can't take full credit.) Here's how I did it....First, cut the sides out of the watermelon to create the basket shape like this. 
Next, begin cutting and scooping the meat of the watermelon out to create the basket. I used a fruit baller and worked away removing the fruit in balls, which go into the fruit salad. The watermelon was really juicy, and several times I got an unexpected bath of watermelon juice while scraping the rind. I dumped excess juice out of the rind basket because I did not want the juices to heavily flavor all of the other fruit.
Cutting the zig-zag edge around the basket and handle was tougher than I thought it would be. I think that I should have used a smaller knife. My basket turned out looking a little like a jagged, toothy jack-o-lantern compared to Mom's perfectly formed zig-zag edge. I guess practice makes perfect.
The final touch to the basket exterior is to cut a tiny hole in the basket handle and add a flower. I cut a flower from a weed-like vine growing behind my house. Because the basket needed to sit out for the duration of the party, I decided to fill it with fruits that do not turn brown quickly. My fruit salad consisted of watermelon balls, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, pineapple and grapes. The fruit options are endless, just remember that if you include a fruit that browns quickly, like apples or bananas, you'll need to include a citrus fruit so the juices can stave off the browning. I mixed the fruit salad in a bowl and simply filled the basket about 10 minutes before party time, so the fruit would be fresh and chilled.
Next, begin cutting and scooping the meat of the watermelon out to create the basket. I used a fruit baller and worked away removing the fruit in balls, which go into the fruit salad. The watermelon was really juicy, and several times I got an unexpected bath of watermelon juice while scraping the rind. I dumped excess juice out of the rind basket because I did not want the juices to heavily flavor all of the other fruit.Cutting the zig-zag edge around the basket and handle was tougher than I thought it would be. I think that I should have used a smaller knife. My basket turned out looking a little like a jagged, toothy jack-o-lantern compared to Mom's perfectly formed zig-zag edge. I guess practice makes perfect.
The final touch to the basket exterior is to cut a tiny hole in the basket handle and add a flower. I cut a flower from a weed-like vine growing behind my house. Because the basket needed to sit out for the duration of the party, I decided to fill it with fruits that do not turn brown quickly. My fruit salad consisted of watermelon balls, strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, pineapple and grapes. The fruit options are endless, just remember that if you include a fruit that browns quickly, like apples or bananas, you'll need to include a citrus fruit so the juices can stave off the browning. I mixed the fruit salad in a bowl and simply filled the basket about 10 minutes before party time, so the fruit would be fresh and chilled.
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