So just the other day I was cutting up fruit for a fruit platter, and had quite a few extra fruit peels. I was about to toss them out, when I thought that was kind of a waste. After all, we save all the vegetable scrap odds and ends to make stocks, all the meat bones and fat and trimmings, why not fruit???
So I threw my cantaloupe peel, honeydew peel, lemon rind, extra orange slices I found in the fridge, and random grapes in a pot with water, along with some fresh mint, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cloves for a little extra flavor. It didn't take very long to simmer to extract the flavor, not even two hours.
I then strained the stock and tasted it. It was quite citrusy, like a light orange juice, with a hint of spice. I added a simple syrup with some maple, poured it over ice, and made a quick fruit punch. The flkavor will differ depending on what sort of fruit scraps you have - but don't throw them out! Fruit stock does work.
All of these amazing sculptures were made from just fruit and vegetables (aside from the few salt and spices art work also thrown in the mix). I see a lot of melons and apples, carrots and greens. I cannot take credit for any of these, I am not that could at fruit carving (yet). There was a demonstration at the conference I attended. Unfortunately, I missed the demo while competing in the competition, but I did get to see the finished products!
