How To Carve A Watermelon Basket

You can make this adorable watermelon basket with just a few supplies and a creative mind.

Supplies:

• One large nice shaped watermelon
• Carving knife
• Pumpkin Carving knife or serrated knife as shown
• Large serving spoon and or Ice Cream Scoop or Melon Ball er which ever you have
• Large Mixing bowl for the watermelon pieces

Wash your Watermelon with soap and warm water.

Find the bottom and slice off a thin strip length wise to make a the bottom flat to prevent rolling or movement while carving. Be careful not to cut too deep just the bottom skin will work just fine.

With a dry erase marker draw your design on to the clean dry melon. Here we are making a whale for my Daughters Birthday Party.

Cut with the serrated pumpkin knife/cutter along the lines using a in and out motion or sawing motion as you go.

Use the carving or meat knife to stab and pull out sections of the melon as shown here:

Be careful not to break off delicate pieces.

Here we cut out the mouth section.

For the eyes I used a pairing knife (.99 cents) and bent the tip over to make a round tip to carve out the skin and scrape until you can see the white flesh of the melon.

Then we cleaned out the melon with a large spoon or scoop, reserving the melon to be cut up to fill the basket later.

Next dry out your melon with paper towels.

Cut up all the fruit you will be adding and keep in separate bowls.

Hint: do not mix the different types of fruit together in one bowl. Layer them in the basket. This keeps the fruit intact and looking beautiful no smashed from mixing.

Keep the melon in the refrigerator until you are ready to fill and serve.

Layer all the different fruit into the bowl. Decorate the platter with greenery, flowers and additional fruit if desired.

Enjoy!