Making & Keeping Edible Fruit Bouquets Fresh

Edible fruit bouquets are eye-catching alternatives to flowers or boxes of chocolates. They make beautiful hostess gifts, thank you gifts or table centerpieces at parties. They can be pricey when purchased from a company, but you can easily make them on your own using fresh fruit at home.

Sturdy fruits are the best to use, because they do not fall apart. Pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries and grapes work well because they can be carved and cut without falling apart or losing their shape. You can experiment with other fruits, as well, such as apples, but you may need to soak them in lemon juice to keep from turning brown.

Wooden skewers are used to create the "stems" of the bouquet. Slip the fruit onto the skewers in a pleasant design. You can stack grapes and shaped pieces of fruit on top of each other on the skewers to make long bold shapes. Slip long slices of honeydew onto a skewer to resemble leaves.

Create flowers out of pineapple slices. Slice the fresh pineapple and cut them into flower shapes. You can also use a cookie cutter in the shape of a flower. Simply press it strongly into the pineapple slice. Make cantaloupe balls and slice them in half. Put one half in the middle of the pineapple flower to create the center. Put the pineapple on the end of the skewer, followed by the cantaloupe. Ensure that the skewer does not stick out the end of the cantaloupe.

Because the sticks will show, place some parsley sprigs among the sticks to hide them. You may need to move the sticks a little to put the parsley in the middle. Put enough so it looks more like the greenery in a bouquet than just a bunch of sticks.

You can put the edible fruit bouquet into any vase or container you wish. Baskets, pails and vases work well, but you can also use items that are more personalized. Decorative planters can be found in many shapes, and work well for baby showers, bridal showers or birthday parties. Put a piece of floral foam or a large lump of play dough into the bottom of the base to hold the sticks steady.

Most fruits can stay out at room temperature for several hours without going bad. Make your edible fruit arrangements as close to delivery time as possible. Leave it in the refrigerator until the last moment. Once the arrangement has been delivered and mostly eaten, take the fruit out of the container and wrap pieces in plastic wrap and place them back in the refrigerator. You can leave them on the skewers or take them off, the choice is up to you.