Daily Discussion Thread: Tue 12 Dec 2023

Hit Vic market very early - like about 6-7 am. For 10 plus people you'll need : Grapes - 2 colours, more if available - 100 g each Dragon fruit - 1 Kiwi fruit - 2 colours - 2 each Apples - pink lady or something crisp with a nice red skin (NOT RED DELICIOUS - the worst named fruit in the universe) - 2 Pears - 2 - not the brown ones - corella pears are small and deliciously sweet. Choose crispy ones. Star fruit - 2 Avocado - 2 Pineapple - 1 I punnet strawberries or cherries. Watermelon - seedless - 1 or maybe 1/2 if the weather is not too hot. Honeydew or other green melon - 1 Canteloupe - 1 Mango - 2 Lemons (at least one)

Large platter - chill overnight in fridge or freeze briefly.
Clingfilm Sharp sharp knife Vegetable peeler melon baller toothpicks

Don't bother with banana - turns brown too quickly

Method: Peel pineapple and put in centre of platter. (youtube vidjos for how to peel if you don't know) You could cut this into triangles if you wish and stack pointy end up in a nice pattern in the middle. Hull the strawberries if using, or destone the cherries and put in a ring around the pineapple.
Slice the star fruit and put one slice on the pineapple as a tree topper with a toothpick - the rest of the slices can be fitted into gaps or wherever they look pretty. Peel and chop the melons into triangles and stack around the edge of platter. Cut apples & pears into quarters lengthwise but don't peel the apples, cut out the cores and slice again lengthwise into eighths. Peel the pears if you want. Dip both in mixture of half/half lemon juice & water. Arrange around platter. Make mango hedgehogs and place around the platter at intervals. Use melon baller to make spheres of the dragon fruit and the avocadoes and use to fill in the gaps between the mango etc. Dribble lemon juice on the avocado. Grind some black pepper or paprika over the watermelon. Sprinkle flaky salt on the apples and pears (not too much). Peel kiwi fruit and chop in quarters lengthwise and fit into gaps. Separate the grapes into small clusters, wash and place into any gaps.

Cover with clingfilm and chill for an hour or so minimum - up to 4 hours. Serve. With toothpicks for those who don't want to damage their nail polish.

This is fairly lavish - you could reduce by at least half if there are less than 10 people expected to be eating it. Basically it's one piece of fruit per person, but spread out over a lot of different kinds of fruit.
If there's something nice that catches your eye at the market, by all means include it or swap it into the platter.

EDIT: count on AT LEAST 2 hours chopping/peeling etc.

I would make one using this platter or similar. You can buy them in $2 shops. Fill it with berries, watermelon, kiwi fruit, cantaloupe etc.