Garnishes for food or beverages

June 29, 11:58 AMBoise Cooking ExaminerMichele (Jaz) Fagan

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Garnishes can make a dish or beverage that looks appetizing and pretty. It also adds color and interest. Some garnishes that I use a lot are lemons, oranges, kiwis watermelon and star fruit. For a garnish choice try to pick one that is appealing in it’s color and one that is not present color wise in your dish. For instance besides lemon wedges you could also throw in some oranges and star fruit or kiwis.

The three most common ways to cut lemons and oranges is wedge, wheels and ½ moon. For wheels simply cut into rings and if you want to add interest cut ½ way through from the center to one edge and twist it into an S shape and set on your plate or set it on the rim of a glass where you sliced the fruit at. For ½ moon cut the fruit in half and discard the ends. Then simply slice the ½ into ½ moons to whatever thickness you desire. For placing on the rim of a glass make a slice ¾ of the way through the ½ moon from the fruit not the peel.

Kiwis may seem difficult but they really aren’t. Pick kiwis that are firm, if they are too soft they are difficult to peel. Using a potato peeler simply peel it like you would a potato then cut it into rings. Watermelon can be cut into wedges or to add more interest take a star or heart shaped small cookie cutter and make shapes. Star fruit is already shaped like a star just use a peeler and peel the points of the stars off. Then place it on it’s side and cut slices from the fruit.

Strawberries can be left whole with the green stem on and cut ½ way through from the center to the tip to place on the rim of a glass. For an interesting effect on plates. Take one whole strawberry with the stem on and from the center to the tip make 4 or 5 slices and fan out. For this choose larger strawberries.

These are just some very basic easy to do garnishes, you can get as artsy as you want with just a little imagination. The best was to learn is experiment or go pick up a book on garnishes to learn more complicated garnishes like cutting radishes into roses.