I’m going to talk about plant-based diet for a moment before I go into detail about how you cut fruit for a charcuterie board.
There’s a documentary series on Netflix called You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment created by Louie Psihoyos, episodes 1-4, January 1, 2024. If you haven’t seen it yet I highly suggest you check it out.
In no way, shape, or form am I telling you to stop eating meat or start a plant-based diet. Instead, I am advocating that you have a conversation with your friends and family about food. Talk about where you buy food and why. Then talk about the food choices you make and how that can impact the environment.
This television documentary series has provided a lot of new information and with that we need to digest it, and understand what it means in our own lives. Personally, I think going to a 100% plant-based diet would be difficult for me and my family. So that’s why we’re implementing small changes and small food choices.
Since we are on the topic of plant-based food here is a fresh fruit charcuterie board that I put together with a fun rainbow theme.
How to Cut Strawberries
For this fruit charcuterie board I didn’t cut my strawberries. Normally I slice my strawberries lengthwise so I get a thin heart shaped strawberry. Sometimes I even leave the green on the top. When you leave the green on the top, you can fan the strawberry open.
How to Cut Bananas
For the banana I cut them in rounds and then I cut the rounds in half for a half moon shape. I knew I wanted to arrange the fruit like a mandala so a half moon shape would fit better than a round banana slice.
How to Cut Oranges
For the oranges, I sliced them into rounds about a fourth of an inch thick. Then I sliced the round in half so that I could stack them flat side down.
How to Cut Kiwano, African Horned Cucumber or Jelly Melon
For this fruit I needed to fill in a small space so I just cut the kiwano in half and put it at the top of the charcuterie board. I also flipped one side over so that you could see the cool spiky skin.
How to Cut Mango
Start with a mango upright. The smaller side is going to be on the top. The side bigger in diameter is going to be on the bottom. From the top of the mango you’re gonna go about half an inch to each side and then cut down. It should go all the way smooth if you hit the center, you hit the seed.
Cut those sides off and from there slice smaller quarter inch slices.
How to Cut Watermelon
First, you cut the watermelon in half right at the middle, where it is biggest in diameter. Then take one of those halves and cut it again in half. Eventually you’ll have quarters. Once you have your watermelon in quarters, you can slowly start to make smaller slices until you get a small triangle slice. I alternated the way that I placed the watermelon slices on this charcuterie board.
How to Slice Kiwi
I wanted the green to show because I knew I was building a rainbow fruit board so I cut the kiwi in small rounds about a quarter of an inch thick. Next I layered them along the edge of the round wood board.
There are endless ways to arrange a charcuterie board, which is why I love building them. it allows me to use my creativity.
Do you need other healthy, charcuterie options, check out our post on veggie charcuterie boards, and what foods you can use to make a plant-based charcuterie board.