Fruit Magic!
November 16, 2007 7:47 PM Subscribe
I'm going to a fruit-themed party next week and want to impress. Can you recommend me some awesome tricks with fruit not unlike this one? Bonus points for those involving apples, but all are welcome.
I don't know any tricks but when I go to fruit themed parties, I do my best to bring fruit most people haven't tasted before. If you live in a major city, hit your ethnic neighborhoods (chinatown, little india, etc.). Some recommendations, if you can find them:
- chekos
- cherimoya
- dragon fruit
- passion fruit
- soursop
- mangosteen
- jackfruit
- rambutan
If you're unfamiliar with the fruit, make sure you ask:
- when will it be ripe (how many days? now? etc.)
- what are the signs of it being ripe? (firmness, texture, scent, etc.)
- what is the best way to eat it (alone, with sugar, cream, etc.)
- how do you eat it? (with a spoon? do you eat the skin? etc.)
If you can find chekos (sometimes called wood apples) that are ripe, you'll wow the party people.
posted by dobbs at 7:54 PM on November 16, 2007
- chekos
- cherimoya
- dragon fruit
- passion fruit
- soursop
- mangosteen
- jackfruit
- rambutan
If you're unfamiliar with the fruit, make sure you ask:
- when will it be ripe (how many days? now? etc.)
- what are the signs of it being ripe? (firmness, texture, scent, etc.)
- what is the best way to eat it (alone, with sugar, cream, etc.)
- how do you eat it? (with a spoon? do you eat the skin? etc.)
If you can find chekos (sometimes called wood apples) that are ripe, you'll wow the party people.
posted by dobbs at 7:54 PM on November 16, 2007
Oh, Persimmon is another good one, much easier to find, and is in season now. Though chances are people have had them before.
I made a persimmon pie tonight, in fact. Hachiya type are the best, imo.
posted by dobbs at 7:58 PM on November 16, 2007
I made a persimmon pie tonight, in fact. Hachiya type are the best, imo.
posted by dobbs at 7:58 PM on November 16, 2007
You can smoke, um, stuff, out of an apple just by pulling the stem out, using the little indentation as a bowl and poking a hole in the side of it, halfway through with a pen or pencil. It's a good smoke, too. The banana one is my favorite ones. You can do this with an orange, or this. You can make little shrunken heads with apples if you start early enough.
posted by jessamyn at 8:00 PM on November 16, 2007
posted by jessamyn at 8:00 PM on November 16, 2007
Tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue.
If you cut an apple in half one way and press it to an ink pad, you can make a heart shaped stamp. If you cut it in the other way, you will have a circle with a star in the middle.
If an avocado or mango (or any other drupe) is really ripe, you can cut around the pit, pull the pit out, score the flesh of each half lightly (don't pierce the skin). If you then push on back of the skin, you will have neat little cubes of fruit that will basically pop off.
The easiest way to peel a banana is backwards - don't start at the stem end. Seriously.
Cherry pit and watermelon seed spitting is a skill. You can demonstrate distance or accuracy.
As many Halloween parties have taught me, peeled grapes really do look like gross eyeballs. My uncle also used to do a trick where he'd hide a peeled grape in his hand and then pretend to pull out his eyeball. Not unlike Tony Wonder.
Little guys like pitted cherries and olives can go on your fingers. It's fun!
If you get a spiral slicer you can make corkscrew apples. Like a slinky!
An ancient form of birth control is to stick a half lemon, you know, up there...like a diaphragm. Way to impress your date!
Please don't be the dude who shows up with a durian.
posted by SassHat at 8:38 PM on November 16, 2007
If you cut an apple in half one way and press it to an ink pad, you can make a heart shaped stamp. If you cut it in the other way, you will have a circle with a star in the middle.
If an avocado or mango (or any other drupe) is really ripe, you can cut around the pit, pull the pit out, score the flesh of each half lightly (don't pierce the skin). If you then push on back of the skin, you will have neat little cubes of fruit that will basically pop off.
The easiest way to peel a banana is backwards - don't start at the stem end. Seriously.
Cherry pit and watermelon seed spitting is a skill. You can demonstrate distance or accuracy.
As many Halloween parties have taught me, peeled grapes really do look like gross eyeballs. My uncle also used to do a trick where he'd hide a peeled grape in his hand and then pretend to pull out his eyeball. Not unlike Tony Wonder.
Little guys like pitted cherries and olives can go on your fingers. It's fun!
If you get a spiral slicer you can make corkscrew apples. Like a slinky!
An ancient form of birth control is to stick a half lemon, you know, up there...like a diaphragm. Way to impress your date!
Please don't be the dude who shows up with a durian.
posted by SassHat at 8:38 PM on November 16, 2007
You can break a banana in half just by snapping it apart with your hands. Simple, but surprising.
posted by mbrubeck at 8:52 PM on November 16, 2007
posted by mbrubeck at 8:52 PM on November 16, 2007
You can decorate oranges with legos to get weird results. If you can find pink pearl apples, they're surprising. How to divide a banana into three sections with your thumb. Details about peeling a banana from the bottom end.
posted by dreamyshade at 8:59 PM on November 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by dreamyshade at 8:59 PM on November 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
Not magic, but fun, if you have a big outdoor space to play in: bad apples can be launched from the whittled-to-a-point end of a green (i.e. still flexible) stick. Cut a stick a little shorter than your arm, stick an apple on one end, cock the stick behind your shoulder, then whip it forward. Conclude your demonstration by announcing to onlookers that fruit flies like an arrow and time flies like a banana.
posted by Orinda at 10:12 PM on November 16, 2007
posted by Orinda at 10:12 PM on November 16, 2007
Also not magic, but can be theatrically impressive, given a darkened room and a bit of panache in the presentation: fruit flambé.
posted by Orinda at 10:19 PM on November 16, 2007
posted by Orinda at 10:19 PM on November 16, 2007
I believe that grape trick can be done with apple bits as well, if positioned very close to one another.
posted by mumkin at 11:35 PM on November 16, 2007
posted by mumkin at 11:35 PM on November 16, 2007
I saw this being made to be served at a wedding. It took them hours to make it and was very impressive. But I like to stick to simpler things for myself, and I'd just bring a whole pineapple. They're in season right now and they are decorative all by themselves, besides being delicious!
posted by Lynsey at 12:36 AM on November 17, 2007
posted by Lynsey at 12:36 AM on November 17, 2007
Well, there's that other banana thing, where you cut one end off and roll the fruit out from the other end with a rolling pin.
posted by Reggie Digest at 12:57 AM on November 17, 2007
posted by Reggie Digest at 12:57 AM on November 17, 2007
(...which results, I should point out, in a banana-skin condom.)
posted by Reggie Digest at 12:59 AM on November 17, 2007
posted by Reggie Digest at 12:59 AM on November 17, 2007
It will take some time and it's not magic, but a fruit bouquet always impresses.
posted by triggerfinger at 2:28 AM on November 17, 2007
posted by triggerfinger at 2:28 AM on November 17, 2007
How about jello shots, served out of fruit rinds, like this:
posted by chara at 9:09 AM on November 17, 2007
posted by chara at 9:09 AM on November 17, 2007
Is this an adult gathering? Remember the old Turkish proverb: A woman for duty, a boy for pleasure, but a melon for ecstasy.
posted by spasm at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2007
posted by spasm at 9:25 AM on November 17, 2007
The microwave grape trick is awesome and sure to impress geeks who haven't seen it before. You don't need to do all the fancy prep work described in Tube's link, though - just cut the grape and put it in the nuclear oven. Blammo!
posted by Quietgal at 9:58 AM on November 17, 2007
posted by Quietgal at 9:58 AM on November 17, 2007
apparently orangutans peel bananas from the non-handle end. works just fine, and looks weird and improbable. the banana-snapping trick is fun, too- just hold an unpeeled 'nana firmly, and break it in half, snap.
posted by twistofrhyme at 12:33 PM on November 17, 2007
posted by twistofrhyme at 12:33 PM on November 17, 2007
Miracle Fruit! Anything sour that you eat after you eat this fruit will become sweet. You can find people who will air-mail it to you online.
posted by suedehead at 1:52 PM on November 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by suedehead at 1:52 PM on November 17, 2007 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Slice your apples horizontally so that the "star" in the center (around the seeds) is visible.
posted by amyms at 7:52 PM on November 16, 2007