The holidays, or any special occasion for that matter, require a little something special for the table. Although I love using my flowers for a centerpiece, there are times, like during the winter, or even certain times during the growing season, where I just don’t have the right materials available. You can always buy flowers at the store, but today I’m going to show you how to make a sugared fruit centerpiece that your guests will love.
Sugared Fruit Centerpiece
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Materials
Fruit – best choices are those with smooth skin such as grapes, cherries, apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, etc..
Superfine sugar
Egg whites or powdered egg whites (in case you want to eat the fruit)
First you need to find something for the foundation. I’m using an old crystal tray with a slight lip on the edge. This is nice because you can remove it from the table pretty easily. Other trays or even cutting boards would work well. Next you want some items to add height. I’m using a small cake stand and a little tin to offset the height of the candles. Play around with the larger pieces to get a feel of how you want to display the fruit.
To sugar the fruit, first make sure it is washed and dried well. Paint on, or dip the fruit into some egg whites. If you want to eat the fruit, and are worried at all about the possibility of salmonella poisoning, I suggest you purchase powdered egg whites. In this case, I am creating this centerpiece purely for decorative purposes and will make sure to keep it out of reach of small hands.
After you dip or paint on the egg white, you can spoon on the sugar, or roll the fruit in it. I found that dipping the cherries and rolling them in the sugar worked well. However, that was a little harder to do with the larger pieces of fruit.
Work with the largest pieces first and then fill in with the smaller fruit. Don’t worry about it looking perfect. I don’t think mine is, but I really like it and feel it adds something a little different and a nice sparkle to our holiday table.
Once dinner it served, I plan on moving the whole centerpiece to the buffet next to the table.
The sugared fruit centerpiece should last for several days, up to a week, depending on the heat and humidity of your home.
It’s one of those satisfying creative projects, where the beauty of nature makes it easy to create something beautiful. I hope you try it. I think you will love the results.
Carole @ Garden Up Green says
I love this idea it so clean looking and festive. Everything lately has been all about clean lines here I guess it’s all the downsizing I’ve been doing. I This is just so elegant and your entire table looks fantastic – Hope you enjoy a wonderful dinner Patti.
Patti Estep says
Hi Carole,
As I’m sure you know this is something that can be as big or small as you want it.
Thanks for stopping by,
Patti
nancy kreischer says
My Mom use to do this 50 years ago. Boy whay memories seeing your display has brought back!
It looks lovely.
Nancy K.
Pamela Groppe says
This is beautiful. I think it is the best kind of centerpiece, gorgeous as well as practical (if you plan on eating it). My grandmother used to do this and I always loved it, I don’t know why I never tried it myself.
creativejewishmom/sara says
Gorgeous, thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday! Have a wonderful holiday season and see you again in 2017!
Melissa says
This makes a really pretty vintage inspired centerpiece. I love it! Thanks for sharing at the Family Joy Blog Link Party this week!
Janet Vinyard says
Hi Patti. I haven’t seen sugared fruit in a long time but your arrangement shows it off beautifully! It looks like it’s just received a light dusting of snow! Thanks for sharing and bringing back some memories! Blessings, Janet
Julie Christiansen says
This is so beautiful and surprisingly simple to replicate. Thanks for sharing!
Rhonda says
This centerpiece is beautiful. Unique and will be a conversation piece for sure. Thanks for sharing on Sunday’s Best.