Tip of the Week: Simple Edible Centerpieces

Posted in Gardening Tips on December 28 2009, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education.

This was the year that The New York Botanical Garden and the entire nation celebrated edible gardens. A slew of beautiful and interesting fruits and vegetables flooded the market, and local farmer’s markets became very trendy. I make it a habit of going to the Union Square Farmer’s Market to search out tasty fruits and vegetables for my own table: for eating as well as for displaying in easy-to-make centerpieces. I bought a rustic, square wooden plate for my centerpieces. The container or plate you choose to showcase your creation is just as important as the centerpiece itself. Buy one that fits your decorating style.

While some of the farmer’s markets close in November (such as the one at the Botanical Garden), the Union Square market stays open year round. On a recent trip there I picked up some colorful carnival squash, which is a mélange of cream, orange, and green, and a few sumptuous dark-red winesap apples. I also found a local farmer who had dried and braided his onions into an elegant display. His braid was composed of white onions (white Ebenezer), yellow onions (Stuttgart), and red onions (red globe). I organized these on my wooden plate and adorned them with auburn-colored ornaments and a miniature garden tool set.

This arrangement took just 15 minutes to organize and added a festive touch to my home. Afterward the fruits and vegetables found their way to the chopping board and then to my dinner table. I often stuff winter squash with apples and cinnamon but this time the apples ended up in an apple/blueberry crumble, the onions in a meatloaf, and the squashes were baked with slivered almonds and butter.

Festive displays can also be made with seasonal fruits such as Meyer’s lemons, red Bartlett pears, diminutive lady apples and Concord grapes. All you need to do is add creative touches such as ornaments or bundles of cinnamon sticks wrapped in ribbon to create decorative, mouthwatering displays.

The second centerpiece I made was with a cheese pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) that I also picked up at the farmer’s market. This heirloom is a good keeper, delicious and more attractive than most of your pumpkins and squashes.

However, this pumpkin didn’t make it to dinner—it was sacrificed in the name of the centerpiece. I hollowed out the inside of the pumpkin and inserted a 4-inch cubed vase filled with saturated florist foam.

I then created a seasonal display using holiday greens. A white pine skirt was overlaid with incense cedar. Juniper with its blue berries adorned the top. This display was augmented by some mat and shiny cream-colored ornaments that picked up the color of the cheese pumpkin. Pine cones and a small heirloom apple (pomme gris) were affixed to the display with stakes and floral wired wood picks.

When working with holiday greens a few cleanup tips are important. If pine sap gets on to your tools, I find that WD-40™ does the trick nicely. For my hands I prefer to remove sap with baby oil, hand sanitizer, or rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol also works on clothing. Mayonnaise works if you get sap in your hair. Both alcohol and oil-based products are good at breaking down the resin. If you don’t have one of these items handy you will end up with a sticky mess.