Simple Melon Carving

introSimple Melon Carving

This Instructable will show you how to do a simple melon carving technique that can be used to carve any type of melon. in this demo i will show you how to carve a cantaloupe.

Melon Carvings like these can be done in 5 or 10 minutes and look awesome on a buffet or to impress friends when you have a dinner party.

step 1Materials
Heres what you need left to right:Melon - in this case i used a cantaloupeFruit and vegetable carving knife- i show 2 styles here the thin bladed wooden handled knife is actually just a paring knife but it is one that has a thin blade this works pretty well for carving and is easy to find, i fou…

step 2cutting both ends of the melon
Using your Deba or chef's knife.Cut both ends of the melon take off just enough of each end to expose the flesh of the melon and make the melon where it will stand up on either end. you can see by my scrap pieces laying next to the melon you don't need to cut off much to make it stand up.

step 3time to start carving
start by sitting your melon upright (put whatever side looks the nicest upward) next in the center of the exposed area stick the U cutter about 1/2" deep and rotate this will create a circle on the top of the melon.

step 4first cut with the thai knife
take your Thai knife and lay the blade flat on top of the melon with the tip touching the edge of the circle you just made. and what you want to do is basically just cut away a ring of melon from around the center circle. the piece you remove needs to be a thin little donut you are just doing th…

step 5whip out the U cutter
first take your U cutter and plunge it about 1/2" deep at an angle (look at the picture) so that the tip of the cutter is just under your center circle.pull the cutter out and repeat immediately next to your last cutwork you way all the way around it should look like a flower when you are done

step 6time to relief the first part of the flower
Next using your Thai knife plunge into the melon parallel to the table about 1/2" down the side of the melon (look at the pic)now start working the knife all the way around the melon plunging the blade about 1" into the melon the whole way aroundonce you complete a cut all the way around the melo…

step 7everything gets very easy from this point
Ok looking at your melon you have a little flower on the top the next step is just like the last.using you U cutter plunge about 1/2" deep on the newly exposed flesh of the melon remembering to keep the cutter angled upwork your way all the way around just as you did before until you have gone a…

step 8Relieving the next ring
In this step you will do just as you did before giving relief to the top flower.only this time we are going to angle the knife down as you work your way around the flower remember slowly work you knife around the circumference of the melon going in about 1" the whole way aroundonce you complete t…

step 9now just repeat and repeat
Basically what you have to do now is just keep repeating the last steps making your plunge marksAnd then relieving the pedals with the Thai knife remember to stay angled up a bit

step 10when do i know when to stop?
You can stop making rows of pedals when you tilt the melon towards you on look at it straight on you should not be able to see any of the rind.

step 11Last step!!
Time to display figure out which side you want it to lean on. and cut a notch into the side of the rind to lean the melon on.also if any part of your melon seems to have come loose you can always make repairs using toothpicks (no one will notice, they are very easily hideable).

step 12ready for display
Ta da. that was pretty easy wasn't it. Hope you had funPlease leave some comments or pictures on how your own Melon carvings turned out

36 comments	Add Comment

Sep 5, 2009. 10:42 AMopcp says:

I had to change it a bit to match the tools I had at hand but here is my first melon carving. Thanks heaps for the tutorial.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7371845@N02/3890387494/

Simple Melon Carving

introSimple Melon Carving

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