Fruit trays this time of year? (sale, buying, organic)

[bluecomet]

Considering fruit trays for brunch. 80 guests. This time of year there is limited fresh fruit. A friend suggested frozen fruit from Cosco, BJ's. Frozen fruit trays? I would think frozen fruit would be for cooking, not fruit trays. Anyone used Lowes Foods for fresh fruit trays? Suggestions appreciated!

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Lot of fresh fruit in the produce aisle these days - cantaloupe, honeydews, watermelons, strawberries, grapes, pineapples, blueberries, raspberries honeycrisp apples, pears, oranges ...

The problem with fruit trays from grocery deli depts. is that much of the fruit is often unripe. Lots of tasteless orange and green melon chunks, pineapples that would have benefited from few days of ripening...all topped with a few artfully placed strawberries.

I've always thought was strange as you would think grocery stores would have all sorts of melons that have over ripened that they could cut off the bad chunks and use the rest in fruit trays. Or they could put fruit for fruit trays to ripen in the back.

Is there a grocery store that specializes in ripe fruit for fruit trays? Whole foods?

If not, do you have the time to select and ripen the fruit yourself? It would take a couple people an hour or two to cut and arrange fruit trays for 80 people. Soak the apple and pear slices in lemon juice or Seven-Up to keep them from darkening. There are numerous pinterest pages on fruit tray displays. I've made rainbow fruit kabobs for a hundred that were the hit of the party. Took about an hour to cut everything up and an hour to load the skewers.

Frozen fruit will be a mushy, melty mess on a brunch buffet.

What else are you serving?

[goodbyesnow]

Sams Club often has fresh fruit trays with a center "dip" but their produce is hit or miss.

[LoopDeLoop]

Jason's Deli does fruit trays that our office has used for meetings. I've thought it was better than most grocery store trays I've had. The fruits are ripe, flavorful, & I believe they are organic if that matters to you.

http://www.jasonsdeli.com/system/fil..._menu_t3_0.pdf

[Stagemomma]

I'm a little surprised that anyone would consider this time of year to be limited in fresh fruit.

How about a couple of pre cut trays from the grocery store, then supplement with some larger quantities of things like grapes (that require minimal prep) and squares of melon?

[lamishra]

Is it possible to make one yourself? I find plenty of fresh fruit in my local grocery sto and just made al arge fruit platter for a babyshower. Grab a pineapple, a half of a watermelon, a cantaloupe, several tubs of strawberries, a couple of kiwis and a couple of pounds of grapes. It requires a little work but the results are usually much better than buying something pre-made.

[Claire_F]

I would check out Whole Foods. They tend to have a wider variety of fruit, and much better quality.

[mselainey]

Originally Posted by lamishra

Is it possible to make one yourself? I find plenty of fresh fruit in my local grocery sto and just made al arge fruit platter for a babyshower. Grab a pineapple, a half of a watermelon, a cantaloupe, several tubs of strawberries, a couple of kiwis and a couple of pounds of grapes. It requires a little work but the results are usually much better than buying something pre-made.

I agree. I think the prices most places charge for fresh fruit and veg trays are astronomical, and I could never pay that much. Especially if the result might be underripe.

That said, you could buy the whole fruits at a warehouse club or even a grocery store on sale and do all the washing/slicing/dicing yourself. The only downside in addition to the time it takes to do the prep is that it can't be made up very far in advance or things like berries will rot; other stuff might start to turn brown.

[mskb]

I have gotten some prepackaged trays from While Foods and been a bit surprised that some of the fruit is still underripe. Similar issues with Costco just depending on the season. They do have a large bowl of fruit, 4lbs for $12.99 though. I believe you can order fruit trays from them as well

Have a friend who got some great fruit from Aldi for a good price but fruit for 80 people is a lot!

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Originally Posted by mselainey

I agree. I think the prices most places charge for fresh fruit and veg trays are astronomical, and I could never pay that much. Especially if the result might be underripe.

That said, you could buy the whole fruits at a warehouse club or even a grocery store on sale and do all the washing/slicing/dicing yourself. The only downside in addition to the time it takes to do the prep is that it can't be made up very far in advance or things like berries will rot; other stuff might start to turn brown.

Apple, pear, and banana slices can be soaked for 3-5 minutes in either:
Salt water (1/2 teaspoon per quart of water)
Lemon water (1 tablespoon of lemon juice per 1 cup of water)
Sprite, 7-Up, or some other lemon-lime, carbonated soda pop

This will keep them from browning on the platter.

Berries need to be washed just before serving. If you wash them ahead of time, use a mixture of white or apple cider vinegar and water. (1 cup of vinegar to 2 quarts of water) Then rinse and put out on paper towels to dry in the refrigerator. This will keep the mildew away.

I used to help out a friend who ran a B&B that was known for outrageous fruit platters. She always had pineapples, kiwis and mangos ripening on a shelf. Apples, grapes and berries in the fridge. Cantaloups, melons, nectarines peaches, plums, pears, cherries in season. What fun to make beautiful arrangements with these.

It's so sad to see what passes for a fruit platter these days. Crunchy, tasteless melon chunks, unripe pineapple pieces, with a few strawberries scattered on top for decoration.

It takes time to pick out the fruit and give it time to ripen. And you can buy the platters with the covers at Costco. But the actual making of the platters does not take that long and can be done the night before Sprinkle the berries on top just before setting on the table.