Spectacularly presented dishes will not only look good, but will also enhance your guests' culinary experience. Some say it will also make each dish taste even better. Different kinds of decorations made of fruit and vegetables will significantly contribute to the appearance of the meals you serve, in addition to correctly laid cutlery, stylish tableware and artistically arranged serviettes. Food enriched in this way will become a true work of art. The art of serving food as a decorative element is called food carving.
Spectacularly presented dishes will not only look good, but will also enhance your guests’ culinary experience. Some say it will also make each dish taste even better. Different kinds of decorations made of fruit and vegetables will significantly contribute to the appearance of the meals you serve, in addition to correctly laid cutlery, stylish tableware and artistically arranged serviettes. Food enriched in this way will become a true work of art. The art of serving food as a decorative element is called food carving.
The technique originates from Asia, and is popular in restaurants, at banquets and events, during wedding ceremonies, etc. Food carving is extremely popular with professional chefs, although this does not mean that you need to be a chef to learn it.
With a bit of imagination and using widely available kitchen accessories, everyone can take up the challenge and create their own culinary works of art, and impress their friends and family at parties.
Go with the seasons!
To start off, bear in mind that all fruit and vegetable decorations should not only be edible, but also ripe, fresh and firm. Of course, it should also match in terms of taste. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the season of the year. In summer you will find many more fresh fruits that out of season, which are also much tastier than those grown artificially and sold in winter.
Summer is also a great time to buy fresh zucchini, juicy and sweet tomatoes, or aromatic herbs. These additions are the perfect garnish for light dishes, popular on warm days. In winter, when your body needs more nutritious meals, aim for compositions made of different varieties of potatoes, as well as vegetables such as kale or cabbage.
What tools do you need for fruit and vegetable carving?
If you want to create unique decorations from vegetables and fruits, you will obviously need your imagination. However, you will also need the right tools. Fortunately, this means regular knives with different blade profiles and sizes, as well as kitchen scissors. They should be properly sharpened, making carving easier and more precise. Blunt knives could even damage the decorative elements when cutting them.
However, you could also go for more advanced cutting equipment, such as dedicated sets for creating various fruit and vegetable shapes. Whatever approach you choose, you should ideally have a regular kitchen knife, filleting knife, fluted knife, vegetable knife, tomato knife, rotary knife and a rocker knife on hand, as well as a butter shaper, a peeler, a shredder, a rind cutter and a tool for hollowing out holes and seed sockets.
You may also need tools for making spirals and grooving, citrus knives, egg slicers, vegetable sharpeners, cake molds, etc. Ordinary toothpicks, skewer sticks, as well as traditional rubber bands will also come in handy. These elements will make it easier to combine various decorations made of vegetables, fruits and more.
You will also need to showcase the delicacies such as fruit on a Dessert Display Stand with 3 levels.
With such a wide range of possibilities, nothing stops you from reaching for more advanced kitchen accessories as you master the art of carving.
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Salad cutter 219.00 €
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Fruit cutter 109.00 €
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Multi Vegetable Slicer – manual 219.00 €
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Vegetable Slicer – 230 mm 199.00 €
Inspirations for fruit and vegetable decorations
When talking about fruit and vegetable decorations, many people think about decoratively prepared side salads or the addition of certain fruits for decorative purposes. Food carving, however, is much more than that. As with every form of art, you can be as creative and original as you want.
The Internet is full of proven recipes and ideas that you can use as inspiration. The same applies to cookbooks and culinary guidebooks. All these sources offer endless amounts of valuable information to anyone interested to find out. You could copy the ideas you like, or use them as an inspiration for your own compositions. Remember – the options are limitless.
For example, instead of cutting everything into slices, you could use ingredients such as raspberries, grapes, green beans, and blueberries. And no one said that fruit and vegetable decorations must be served raw, so in some cases they could also be heated. Many types of fruit look and taste great when dipped in melted chocolate or caramel.
Grilled potatoes, paprika or courgette slices will not only tempt you with their delicious smell, but also look very appetising. A bouquet made of such vegetables, properly arranged, can greatly enhance the overall culinary experience of many dishes. A variety of spices will also be helpful as decoration, and will not only give your dishes a unique taste and aroma, but also enrich the palette of colours.
Simple fruit decorations can sometimes also be very effective. An excellent example of this is a pear and grape hedgehog, which you can prepare without much experience or advanced equipment. All you will need is a knife and some toothpicks. Wash the fruit thoroughly, then peel the pear, but only half of it – the narrower part, and stick the toothpicks with grapes on the surface where the peel remains. The nose can be made of a black olive cut in half, and the eyes can be made of peppercorns.
Summary
Fruit and vegetable carving is here to stay, in both large restaurants and small catering businesses. Anyone can get inspired with ideas for creating unique decorations from fruits and vegetables, so nothing prevents you from impressing your friends and family with such techniques.
Although there are many recipes and inspirations available on the Internet, as well as in cookbooks, why not try to come up with your own ideas, experiment a bit and look for new solutions. As already mentioned, your options are limitless.
You don’t need any sophisticated kitchen tools to create a delicious work of art. Sharp knives, toothpicks and anything else you may have on hand should be enough to create wonderful fruit and vegetable decorations that will enchant your guests. However, remember that taste also matters, so when experimenting, choose the ingredients and spices reasonably.
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