5 Easy Tips To Arrange A More Beautiful Fruit Platter

While dumping fruit onto a tray and setting it on the table is an acceptable approach when you're feeding your own midafternoon cravings, hosting a dinner party may call for a more refined presentation. Whether you're planning a relaxed lunch party or have invited the in-laws over for brunch, dust off the wooden cheese boards you set out during wine nights and get ready to assemble a fruit board that is worthy of the 'Gram. A little bit of intention can go a long way when it comes to aesthetic appeal, and we have a few key directions you might want to keep in mind as you head to the store in search of fruit to include.

From grabbing packages of dried fruit to plucking herbs from your garden, preparing photo-commanding dishes of fruit that are as beautiful to look at as they are to eat is certainly not a task best left to professional culinary artists. Prepare to impress your friends with the fruit platters you unveil at the next potluck — and maybe be inspired to set out a better-looking platter for yourself the next time munchies strike.

Just as plating tricks add personality to your meals and garnishes add color to drinks and plates, you'll want to consider the colors and hues of the fruits you intend to serve. Whether you arrange fruits in groups according to shades or mix and match ingredients for a more vibrant display, thinking about the overall look of your fruit platter can help create a cohesive vision for your spread as you slice fruit and start grouping food items together.

If you want to add a splash of color to your edible spread yet find that the fruits you carried from the store are lacking in the color department, consider placing some of the fruits into energetic, colorful bowls for a burst of color. Grapes and berries can be easily set into pretty dishes and lined up on a cutting board. Break up stacks of ingredients with extra flourishes and uniquely sliced pieces of fruit. From holiday parties to summer cookouts, let ingredients and colors of the season shape your edible arrangements.

Your fruit platters don't need to only offer fresh fruits. One of the easiest ways to add intent to a presentation is to invite your favorite dried fruits and freeze-dried fruits into the mix. Use trays with dividers to help build structure in your platter and keep smaller pieces from rolling onto the floor. A sprinkling of dried fruits dispersed throughout a tray can add aesthetic interest to your presentation and requires little prep work. One of the advantages of piling dried and freeze-dried fruits onto your spread is that these bites won't require you to peel, slice, or dice ingredients before plating. 

Smaller dishes and bowls can be filled with dried fruit and placed onto a serving platter to create interesting patterns. Alternate rows of freshly sliced fruit slices and chopped seasonal fruit pieces. Though nuts and trail mix may not be suitable for those with dietary restrictions, these kinds of ingredients can also add texture and contrast with the juicier, softer pieces of fresh fruit served on your spread.

Similar to the plating principles you want to keep in mind when building a charcuterie board or setting up a grazing table, remember to create separate sections within your fruit platter. This tactic can not only keep smaller ingredients contained but also add an interesting visual element to a compiled assembly of ingredients. 

Whether you use sectional trays or set out pretty dishes on top of a platter, imagine sectioning separate compartments within your platter so that your presentation offers some structure and focus to the assortment of fruit. You don't need to take out all of your fancy dishes for the occasion, either, as you can create partitions using ingredients already out on your kitchen counter. Place harder, denser pieces of fruit alongside softer, more malleable shapes, or use the rinds leftover from your slicing and cutting prep work to form boundaries and distinct areas within a tray.

Though you may be familiar with one or two different ways to cut fruit, familiarizing yourself with additional alternatives can add extra appeal to the fruit platters you assemble. Resist the temptation to dump berries into a dish and surround them with grapes before calling it a day. A fruit slicer cup can help you create evenly shaped pieces of strawberries, or you can master the spiral technique for cutting pineapple.

Consider plating cubes of fruit next to sliced pieces or forming flower-like arrangements using fruit pieces you've painstakingly cut into similar widths. Whether you're cutting cactus or prickly pear fruit or slicing up apples picked from a local farm, how you cut fruit can provide the perfect sizes and shapes you need to fill the platters of your choosing. Taking time to present fruit in this way may require a bit of extra time spent in the kitchen, but your hard work will pay off once your dinner guests start taking photos of the attractive edible display you have neatly arranged. 

Once your fruit trays are filled with a variety of colors, textures, and tastes, add edible flowers or herbs from your garden as a final finishing touch. Place pretty purple and blue buds and snipped leaves in between sections of dried and sliced fruit pieces to add visual contrast among the ingredients on your platter. This detail may seem slight, but a sprig of an herb or the delicateness of a flower can have a significant impact on the overall cohesiveness of your platter's presentation.

Feel free to bring in decorative garnishes that are relevant to your party, whether it be colorful ribbons in which you tie ribbons around bowls of cut fruit, or set a handwritten card neatly into a dish. You may want to use toothpicks to create stacks of fruit for guests to easily grab or use shot glasses from your home bar and fill them with blueberries to add visual layers to your platter. These kinds of finishing touches can help make the presentation your own and forge a lasting memory for the guests attending your party.