A fresh fruit table centerpiece can bring a crisp appeal to your dining experience as well as delight with aromatic scents.
Fresh Fruit Table Centerpiece
There's something comforting about fresh fruit being used for a dining table centerpiece. Not only do you enliven your dining experience with such a delightful addition, you can actually eat the centerpiece one piece of fruit at a time. A fruit centerpiece is reminiscent of older time periods when harvest fruits were placed on the kitchen table and enjoyed by the family.
Using Your Own Fruits
If you have fruit trees and want to take advantage of your personal bounty you can use only these or you may want to augment them with fruits purchased at your local farmers market or produce stand. Using your own fruit can give you a tremendous sense of accomplishment that reminds you each time you sit down to a meal that you grew the fruit for your family.
How to Create a Fruit Centerpiece
There are several ways that you can approach creating a fruit centerpiece. You may simply decide to use a decorative pedestal bowl and fill it with oranges, pears, apples and a bunch of grapes draped over the edge for a classic setting. This type of centerpiece doesn't require much manipulation and you can simply replace the fruit as it's eaten without much fuss.
Form Centerpieces
Some of the most popular choices for fruit centerpieces are forms. The apple cone form is readily identifiable with Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and is one of the most popular choices for a form centerpiece. It's especially popular for seasonal holidays when fresh fruit is either scarce or very abundant. Red apples and boxwood or other greenery is often used during the Christmas holiday season. The cone shaped form has a series of spikes that receive the fruit and hold them in place. You aren't limited to using only apples. You may wish to make cone of apples, oranges, pears, lemons, limes, and even grapes. Use your imagination and create stunning fruit centerpieces. Top with a medium sized pineapple for a fun Southern hospitality centerpiece.
All Kinds of Fruit Baskets
You may decide to get very creative and make a basket collage centerpiece. This type of project can be a lot of fun and is one you can even involve your kids for some family time.
Triple Effect
Before you start, visualize the final look you want to achieve with your centerpiece. You may have some natural vines you can weave into the overall design or dried flowers and herbs.
Start with the main basket you want to use. This one will be the largest of the three baskets in your centerpiece. Next select two complementary baskets to use that will be turned onto one side. Oval baskets work best for this design, but you can use any shape. The effect you want is for the side baskets to appear to have overturned and the fruit spilled out. The key to making this type of centerpiece successful is to keep the fruit from becoming too spread out over your table.
Mark off the actual space you want to use in the center of your table by using string or yarn to outline the borders. This way you can contain your design and not have to revise it once it's completed. Make sure that the two side baskets direct the flow of the spilled fruit toward the center basket. You'll need to play around with the position of the baskets and the fruit, but once you have the desired effect, sprinkle in a variety of shelled nuts.
Fresh Fruit Cutout Bouquet Centerpieces
You may decide to use a fresh cut fruit centerpiece for a dinner party or a special morning brunch. This type of centerpiece is offered by most leading florists and gives you an excellent variety of this creative use of fresh fruit. You can select from centerpieces that feature fresh fruit cut out into flower shapes, such as daisies made from fresh pineapple. These are mixed with fruit dipped in chocolate.
If fruit dipped in chocolate isn't your style, then opt for a bouquet of melon wedges and pineapple daisy cuts peppered with clusters of grapes.
Adding to Your Fruit Centerpiece Bouquet
You can add to your fruit cutout centerpiece by adding banana bunches around the base. Be sure to leave enough space between the bouquet vase and the bananas so you fill in the space with oranges, apples and pears, don't forget to drape clusters of grapes over the bananas for a cascading effect. Add some silk grape vines streaming to each end of the table and sprinkle real grapes all along the vines. You can make use of silk ribbons in colors that match your fruit choices or choose grape colors.
Other Designs
If you're skilled at cutting melons, you can create decorative bowls from the melon rinds to hold your fruits. Consider using leaf lettuce for the greenery in your centerpiece. You can get red sail romaine, which is a deep purplish red color and mixed it with varieties of green lettuces. Tall glass containers and various shapes and sizes also make excellent ways to display fruits and create a centerpiece. A tiered compote or pastry stand can be used to give a waterfall effect centerpiece. Add several colorful flowers into your design for a sparkling fresh effect of textures.
Don't Forget the Candles
Whichever style of fresh fruit table centerpiece you opt to use, don't forget to add candlelight to your overall effect. You can choose to go with sterling silver candelabra for a high-style elegant look or a Tuscan table setting with patina copper candle holders, antique brass, or brass. For a magical touch, go with glass candle holders to reflect the candlelight and create a glittering effect.
