Fresh Fruit Platter for a Crowd

Update 9/9/2019: I started this blog in 2009 as an online journal to chronicle my journey and record my favorite recipes. Ten years later I can look back and see how much I’ve learned. As I reduced the amount of processed food in my pantry and freezer, I began preparing more and more meals from scratch. This resulted in a change in tastes, likes, and desires. So much, in fact, that I feel it’s time to launch and entirely new blog! I'm going to keep this blog up and running just in case people have linked or pinned the recipes. Here's a link to this recipe on the new site.

When recently volunteering to prepare fresh fruit for 50 people, at first I thought I would create  a couple of  extra large fruit salad bowls similar to my "Strawberry, Orange, and Grape Salad with Basil" post.  After doing some shopping and seeing what looked fresh, I decided that it would be better to have a fresh fruit platter.  My reasoning was that preparing a fruit platter would be huge time savings, and it would make for a great presentation.  Granted, there are plenty of ways to put together a fruit platter, and it will always depend on what is available.  However, I hope this post will serve as an inspiration for your fruit platter.

Fresh Fruit Platter for a Crowd 

(double the following ingredients for two identical platters which is what I did to serve 50)

1 seedless watermelon

1 cantaloupe

1 quart of strawberries

1 quart of grapes

1 quart of pineapple

6 oranges

1. Wash everything.  I use a fruit and veggie wash even on the watermelon and cantaloupe. Cut the watermelon in half.

2. Cut the watermelon half in half to make a quarter. Cut the quarter in half again to make an eighth.

3. Cut the 1/8 piece into thin slices as pictured below and set aside.

4. Cut the cantaloupe in half.

5. Use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds from both halves.

6. Cut each melon half in half to make quarters.

7. Cut each quarter to make eighths.

8. Just like the watermelon cut each 1/8 piece into thin slices.

9. Cut off the ends of an orange.

10. Continue to make thin slices and cut them in half.

11. Start arranging the melons and oranges artfully on each corner of a large platter.

12. Cut pre-cored fresh pineapple into smaller bite-sized chunks.

13. After arranging strawberries in the fourth quarter of the platter add the pineapple to the middle. Using scissors cut grapes in small 3, 4, or 5 grape bunches which makes them easier for people to grab a small bunch.

15. Artfully arrange small bunches between both melon and orange slices.

NOTE: I recently went on vacation in Costa Rica, and the picture below was a fruit platter served to a small group of us for breakfast.  This fruit platter was fresh in my mind as I arranged the one above.