How To Make a Watermelon Basket

Note from Cheri: With this simple fresh fruit salad recipe, the presentation is everything. Watermelons are great creative foil for foodies. I love to make this salad for picnics because at the end of the day there are no dishes to take home. Store extra fruit salad in a large plastic zipper bag in your cooler chest to replenish the basket as needed. We used a garnishing tool to make the cuts in our melon. If you don't have one, dig out the Halloween Jack-o-Lantern carving knives and use these instead, or a sturdy pairing knife. It will be slightly more work, but the results will still be great.

You Will Need 1 watermelon for the rest of the fruit, mix and match as you see fit: cantaloupe honeydew melon seedless grapes peaches nectarines strawberries blueberries raspberries blackberries plums oranges etc. for garnish: lemon, lime or orange slices grapes, melon balls or cherries toothpicks tools: garnishing tool (pictured at right) OR serrated knife (jack-o-lantern carving knives work well) melon baller OR simply cut the fruit into bite sized chunks

Need Garnishing Tools? Click for Amazon.com's selection. Watermelon Picking Tips: Look for a rind that is dull, not shiny and without soft spots. Slap the side of the melon, a ripe melon will have a hollow thump sound.

Serves: A Lot! Since these are basic instructions, the number of servings will depend on the size of your fruit. Suffice it to say, this serves a big crowd. Let's Carve a Watermelon! To begin, take a sharp knife and slice a small thin piece off the bottom of your melon as shown in the photos below. This will allow the finished basket to sit flat on a plate or table without rolling. Next, take the tip of your knife or garnishing tool and score the watermelon in half, horizontally. Then mark a strip of about 1 1/2 - 2 inches wide that will form the handle of your basket. For illustrative purposes we used a marking pen instead of scoring. If you have trouble seeing the score lines, you might also want to try this method. Next, take your garnishing tool and start cutting around the melon on the lines. The garnishing tool naturally makes V shaped cuts, which makes doing a basket like this a breeze. If you do not have a garnishing tool, use a small knife and make the V cuts one side at a time. You could also forget the V and make straight cuts. To make separating the melon easier, and the finished product neater, turn your garnishing tool over, and go over the cuts in the opposite direction (see photos). Carefully separate the cut sides from the body of the watermelon. If you used a marking pen and there are any residual marks left, a handy way to get rid of them is to use a new emory board and gently sand them off. Take a melon baller and hollow out the inside of the watermelom. After removing all the edible parts, take a large spoon and gently scrape out the sides of your "basket". Be care not to scrape too thinly on the handle, as you want it to have some stability, even though you will never try to carry it this way. Mix the watermelon balls (or pieces, if you don't have a melon baller) with other ripe fresh fruits. To make the handle garnish, thinly slice lemons, limes or oranges and use a toothpick to affix them, along with a grape (pictured), melon ball or cherry, to the watermelon. (see final photo, above). Tip from our Readers: Carole, a Fabulous Foodie from Milford, Connecticut sent in the following tip: "I just read your instructions for making a watermelon basket filled with fruit. I've made watermelon baskets and one of the problems I've encountered is liquid from the fruits collecting in the bottom of the "basket" which makes the fruit soggy. I corrected this problem with the last basket I made by putting "drainage" holes in the bottom of the watermelon after hollowing it out and before filling with the fruit. I then put the basket in a large oval roasting pan filled with ice cubes (to keep the fruit cold), and the water from the fruit drained into the pan along with the melting ice. This kept the fruit in the basket from getting soggy. Thought you might be able to use this idea. Handy Cutting Surface Jumbo cutting mats -- a thin, pliable mat, rolls up for easy transportation to picnics, BBQs, camping the beach and other outdoor dining events, but equally handy in your own home or RV kitchen. Pop in the dishwasher to clean.