Rind-less Watermelon?

"Where do you buy rind-less watermelons, Miss Kay?" Asked Benjamin quizzically as he was watching me busily cutting up a mound of rind-less, skinless fruit for Welcome SCAD Luncheon, which IPC hosts annually for SCAD and other college students. "Where else? Sam's Club, Benjamin!" I quipped with a grin.

The truth is since I had planned for fruit salad for the luncheon (for 60) and Sunday Fellowship dinner (for 300). So fruit had to be prepped ahead for both meals. This is how we do it in IPC kitchen.

Oxygen is a foe to cut fruit. Whenever fruit is cut into smaller pieces and stored, guess what, it expels carbon dioxide, water, and heat. That is why your fruit salad gets all watery when you prepare it the day before. And worse yet, the fruit also expel ethylene, gas which accelerates ripening process, that means mushy fruit.

For pineapples, cut the crown and bottom off. Stand it vertically and using a sharp knife, gently slice off the outer skin, just close enough to cut away the eyes. Quarter the pineapple, then cut the hard core off.

Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store in a container (to catch any liquid escaping, if any) up to three days in the refrigerator. On the day of serving, unwrap the plastic, and cut fruit into bite size.

For cantaloupes, watermelons, and honeydews, prep similarly. Cut top and bottom of the fruit, and thinly slice off the rinds. See the slight curve as the knife cuts downward?

Halve the melon then scoop out the seeds with a spoon.

Again, prepped halves are wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and store in a refrigerator up to ideally two days, but not more than three.

On the day of the event or meal, the fruit is cut into smaller pieces. Layer the cut fruit in a clear bowl or a serving dish and do not mix! Fruits like Kiwi and pineapples have high acid and sugar content that mixing will bruise and soften other cut fruits too quickly.

I don't wash berries like strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries until ready to use. Grapes can be stemmed up to two days in advanced, washed and stored in baggies and refrigerated.

And this is how fruit salad is made for our church meals, fresh and never mushy.

A quick recap:

*Cut away rinds and skins

*Store prepared fruit in sealed plastic wrap up to 2-3 days, depending on fruit

*Cut fruit into smaller pieces on the day of meal/event

*Layer the fruit, do no mix

Click Here for Other Fruit Center Piece Ideas