Jumbo Jim’s Tower of Fruit is a tradition at our summer parties. It is pretty free form and flexible – how big is the group, how much table space, what fruit is in season. We sometimes have dishes of sweet dips for the fruit.
Ingredients:
- kiwi
- cantaloupe
- honeydew
- watermelon
- oranges, lemons limes
- pineapple
- bunches grapes – red and green
- strawberries
Tower:
- lettuce, kale, Swiss chard (large leaves of something)
- parsley
- green Styrofoam pieces – cubes and/or rounds to use like building blocks
- long skewers
- toothpicks
Directions:
- Arrange Styrofoam (of various sizes) to form the structure for the tower. Stair step them up to a single round top piece.
- Skewer them securely together with long skewers.
- Cover them with lettuce, kale or other large leafed greens secured with toothpicks.
- Cut the whole pineapple in half lengthwise. Leave the top on.
- Extract the fruit, leaving a shell to use as a dish.
- Cut the cantaloupe in half. You can use a v shaped tool to make the edge fancy.
- Extract the fruit, leaving a shell to use as a dish.
- Cut the honeydew in 1/3 – 2/3 to make a deep shell. You can also use a little watermelon.
- Cut a thin slice off the bottom so it will sit flat.
- Extract the fruit, leaving a shell to use as a dish.
- Cut all the fruit you extracted into large bite size pieces- keep them separate.
- Now comes the fun. Place the honeydew at the top of your”tower”.
- Arrange the cantaloupe on the next layer.
- Use the half pineapples on the lowest corners.
- Skewer all these in place. They will be the bowls for your fruit. You can add other containers – large sea shells, pretty baskets, etc.
- “Decorate” the tower with parsley (fill in blank spots) half oranges, lemons, limes (cut side out) and even flowers (real or not).
- At party time, fill the containers with a variety of fruits – not necessarily what the container originally had.
- Don’t forget toothpicks for serving and a dish for used toothpicks.
Serves: Usually more that you think it will.
Source: Jim Kleerup
