Any tips on making a great fruit platter?

[~Trish~]

I am bringing a fruit platter to a party on Sunday, but I'm not much of a fruit eater myself (due to tummy issues). So I have no idea what fruit I should use and how to make it look good!

Does anyone have any suggestions of fruits I could use? And I'd love some suggestions on how to present it nicely. I want to make a great one because it is for my MIL's 60th party.

I'm guessing strawberries and grapes are some fruits that are easy to pick at, what else should I use?

TIA

[MamaPan]

I like to get mangos and cut the flesh out of them and lay it out nicely. then get pommegranate and sprinkle it all over the mangos. the colours look gorgeous and it is something more 'special'
cherries also look lovely
you could dip the strawberries in choc i fyou wanted to make it more indulgent
aside from that i usually put pineapple and melon on
some dried fruits also are nice - figs, dates, apricots?
hope that helps..

[Spring Angel]

Watermelon, pineapple, rockmellon, honeydew are all essentials IMO. Also I'd have the strawberries and grapes. Cut fruit into bite size pieces without skin so it is easy to eat.

Also I think it's nice to place some sprigs of mint on the platter to pretty it up.

HTH
Spring

[Trillian]

Personally I prefer to only stick with seasonal fruits when I do a fruit platter as it just goes together so much nicer. Also make sure that if you have apples that you squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice over them to stop them going brown and I always add a sprinkle of rosewater over the top.

[Janie]

Depending on how big your platter will be, I would suggest having six different types of fruit (at least). Kiwi fruit is a good one to add. I agree with Spring, got to have pineapple, and some melon. Definitely strawberries and grapes . If it's suitable, I think a nice bowl of thick chocolate sauce is good to dip the fruit into .

Mmmm, as for presentation, I'm finding it hard to describe over the net LOL. I like it to look really good, but I kind of go with what looks good at the time . Generally, bigger things like bunches of grapes are best in the middle. Pineapple (I think) is nice sliced into larger, but really thin slices ITMS. And then you can kind of fan it out.

[~Trish~]

Thanks so much everyone! You've all given me some great ideas and something to work with now LOL!

I love the idea of chocolate sauce to dip the fruit into Janie . Where can I get a suitable chocolate sauce? I'm guessing melted down chocolate would set by the time I got there?

[Mum2SweetCs]

You can scoop out a water melon and make it as a bowl with a lid which would holds fruit salad

[~Trish~]

What a cool idea M2OSB! Thanks for your suggestion

[sangie]

Trish you could make a toblerone dip. You just melt a couple of toblerone bars and mix in whipped cream. Pop it in the fridge until you are ready to leave. It's really yummy!

[Marlene]

Cut wooden kebab sticks in half and make little fruit kebabs. Sometimes even if you put forks/toothpicks for people to pick up the fruit, they will still stick there grubby hands in there, lol.

[Nelle]

Not sure if kids are going to be there, but for slippery things like banana, I sprinkle a bit of lemon juice (to stop it going brown) and roll in coconut. Riv's eating kiwifruit in coconut now, it's too slippery otherwise! And it's a good way to try and make banana good looking.

As others have said, any cream in a chocolate dip should stop it from setting. That toblerone one is GOOD.

[~Trish~]

Thanks everyone! Sorry I haven't been back to thank you all sooner, it's so hard to find hands-free time atm

I made a massive fruit platter yesterday using lots of your suggestions and it was a real hit! I also Googled some fruit platter photos to get some ideas on presentation LOL!

[Janie]

Sounds great Trish, good on you!!!! And thanks to you, I have been making myself lots of fruit platters over the last week, it's been a real hit