Edible Arrangement How-To

Tuesday, we went to an Election party at our friends Peter and Allyn's house.  I wanted to bring some fruit to snack on through the evening, but didn't want to just bring a bowl of it, so I decided to try my hand at a homemade Edible Arrangement!  I figured if it worked, it would be a fun way for everyone to enjoy their fruit, and if it didn't work, I'd just un-skewer it all and everyone could enjoy it in a bowl.  :)

Thankfully, it turned out well!

For my arrangement, I decided to use strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, grapes, cantaloupe, and marshmallows.



I put together a few tips to pass along to you, so you can make your own!  Here's what I did.

I ended up buying WAY too much fruit (since I had no idea how much I'd need for a full arrangement).  Turns out I only used one package of strawberries, one pineapple, one cantaloupe and a few bundles of the grapes.  I did use all the blueberries and most of the large marshmallows.

I wanted the pineapple to have a pleasing shape (instead of just chunks), so I cut it into rings, cut the outside off, and then used a round cookie cutter to cut circles out.

Tip:  Cookie cutters with jagged edges don't work well with the grains of the pineapple, so pick a shape that is mostly rounded, like a flower or circle.




Prepare the rest of your fruit (cut and/or wash as appropriate) and give each item its own bowl.

Now prepare your vase!  You can either use styrofoam or some of the green floral foam.  I stopped by the flower department at our grocery store and got two bars of the floral foam for about $3.  Cut the foam so it fits snugly in the vase, and you're ready!

Tip:  Push the foam down so it's about 1" below the top of the vase, so it's not visible in your arrangement.

Now for the fun part - skewering your fruit!  Put one piece of fruit on the top of the skewer.  Then start sliding fruit from the bottom to the top to fill the stick.  Make lots of different combinations as you go so your arrangement doesn't look the same all over.

Tip:  If you're using marshmallows, slide a piece of fruit on before you try to put a marshmallow on.  This will "wet" the stick enough so the marshmallow doesn't leave stickiness all over the skewer.

The skewers toward the center will need to have more fruit on them since they'll be taller.  Make some that have less fruit as you fill the arrangement in so you can stick the skewer further into the foam and round the arrangement out.  Don't push the skewer into the foam so far that the fruit is touching the foam - the bottom piece will be tainted!  (ewww)

Tip:  It's easier to stick the skewer in the foam if you take the top piece off the skewer and push from the top.  Once the skewer is in the arrangement, return the piece to the top.

Toward the end I made several half sticks and filled in the center so the arrangement was fuller throughout

Just keep adding skewers until it's perfect!

It's also lot of fun eating the fruit off of a stick.

I'm thinking of making one for Christmas that has strawberries and marshmallows to look like a candy cane.  There are so many fun themes you can do!