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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Make a "watermelon baby carriage" by hollowing out a small or medium watermelon, cutting it into a carriage shape, refilling it with a fruit salad, and adding fruit wheels and garnish for a showy, refreshing dessert centerpiece. The video frames it as a beginner-friendly project, with no oven needed. Jamie Geller and her husband Rabbi Lawrence (with Anita also present) demonstrate the process on the Quick and Kosher show.
Key Points
- A small or medium watermelon is recommended, since a large one means far more melon balling and the wheels would be too big for a smaller food product.
- A regular drinking glass can be pressed into the melon to mark a circle for the wheels, with no special tools.
- Fruit wheels can be made from pineapple rounds, with a kiwi or grape half as the hub.
- Fruit salad (cantaloupe, honeydew, and other fruit) is scooped with a melon baller and returned inside the carriage, mixing colors throughout.
- Grapes and blueberries add color, and unripe champagne grapes make an edible garnish.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Draw a straight line across the top of the watermelon, with a second line running through the middle around the stem end, using a marker. Use a little water if you need to erase.
- Cut along the line with a serrated knife, staying just to the side of the line so you do not damage the far side.
- If the top comes off uneven, level it with the knife, then trim the pieces.
- Hollow out the melon with a melon baller, twisting the wrist to let the tool do the work.
- Cut the wheels: press a glass into the melon to mark a circle, then slowly cut around the imprint with a knife.
- Cut a pineapple into round wheels, then push a skewer through a kiwi and through the pineapple to attach it. Trim skewer points afterward. Cut a grape in half and place it over the hub.
- Scoop cantaloupe and honeydew, then layer the fruit back into the watermelon, adding a little of each so the colors are spread throughout.
- Attach green grapes to toothpicks and push them into the melon in alternating positions, then scatter blueberries over the top.
- Garnish the base and sides with champagne grapes, then place the finished carriage in the middle of the table. Jamie jokes that their knives are 'serious' and says sharp knives (which need regular sharpening) give nicer results, poking fun at cooking shows that pre-sharpen knives constantly.
- Jamie says you can use an orange or really anything round, but she personally likes to use pineapple.
Bottom Line
A watermelon carriage is a simple, eye-catching dessert that needs only a marker, a knife, a melon baller, and fruit, making it a good low-effort centerpiece for a gathering.
