The Christmas tree is a symbol of the festival of Christmas, often accompanied by the image of Santa Claus and reindeer. Today, TasteVN will guide you through 4 ways to carve fruits and vegetables to create beautiful Christmas trees in the Cooking tips section to help you decorate your Christmas dishes more uniquely!
1. Create a Christmas tree shape from a carrot
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Preparation
3 minutes
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Cooking
1 hour
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients to create a Christmas tree shape from a carrot For 3 pieces
Carrot 1 piece
How to Make a Christmas Tree Shape from a Carrot
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Prepare the carrot
First, use a peeler to peel the carrot, then cut off the green top of the carrot. Next, continue to divide and cut the carrot into 3 pieces, with the middle piece longer than the other two pieces at about 1/2 finger length.
Then, cut 3 slices of carrot about 1/3 finger thick from each part of the carrot after dividing.
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Shape the Christmas tree
After cutting the carrot into 3 pieces, use the knife to cut the middle piece into 4 equal parts. For the other 2 pieces, cut them into 3 equal parts.
Next, use the knife to taper each part after it has been divided (as shown in the picture) to create the shape of the Christmas tree. The trunk of the Christmas tree is cut to a smaller size compared to the foliage of the tree.
Tip: You can use a fruit carving knife or a knife with a triangular tip to make it easier and faster to carve the carrot beautifully.
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Trimming the leaves and branches of the Christmas tree
Use a triangular-tipped knife to trim the leaves on each part of the Christmas tree (which has been tapered in step 2). You can be flexible with the distance between the leaf cuts so that they look lush.
For the base of the Christmas tree, keep it intact without making any grooves!
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Trimming the decorative star
Use a carving knife to divide and lightly cut each carrot slice into 5 equal parts. Then, skillfully use the knife blade to cut in a V-shape between two adjacent cuts to create a 5-pointed star.
Next, depending on your skill level, carve the star so that it doesn’t look monotonous.
Finally, use a toothpick about 2 finger segments long, pin it from the top of the Christmas tree, and attach the star you just carved. That’s it!
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Final Product
The Christmas tree made from a carrot has a characteristic orange-red color, bringing warmth to the Christmas atmosphere. At the same time, this color also helps make your dish stand out more on the banquet table.
2. Shaping a Christmas tree from a cucumber
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Preparation
3 minutes
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Processing
45 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Shaping a Christmas tree from a cucumber For 1 piece
Cucumber 1 piece
How to create a Christmas tree shape from cucumber
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Cut the cucumber in half
With a long cucumber, cut it in half and take 1/2 of the fruit. Then, use that 1/2 to cut out a small piece about 1.5 finger widths thick to make the base of the Christmas tree.
Next, cut the cucumber in half lengthwise.
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Make small cuts in the cucumber
First, place the cut side of the cucumber down on a clean cutting board.
Then, use the knife blade to make small cuts from top to bottom perpendicular to the cutting board and start moving the blade from right to left (or from left to right depending on your dominant hand) until you reach the end of the cucumber’s width.
Tip:- The distance between cuts depends on your skill, but don’t make them too thin or too thick.
- The cuts should be of moderate depth and evenly spaced to help you shape the branches and leaves of the Christmas tree more easily in the next step.
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Carving the branches and leaves of a pine tree
Place your left index finger firmly on the cucumber’s body, and use your right hand to hold the knife, making incisions and pulling from the inside out, similar to the process of filleting fish!
At this point, use your left index finger to stabilize the piece of cucumber that has just been shaped into a pine branch, while gently pulling the knife blade to move from the outside in to create another pine branch in the opposite direction.
Continue this way, using the knife to carve and pull each piece of cucumber until you get close to the top of the cucumber, about one finger’s width away, then stop. You have now shaped the trunk, branches, and leaves of the pine tree!
To stabilize the base of the pine tree, cut the cucumber in half (as mentioned in step 1), and then attach half of this cucumber piece to the trunk of the pine tree that has just been shaped.
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Final Product
The Christmas tree is shaped from cucumber, so it has the characteristic green color of this vegetable. You can use it to decorate dishes with warm colors such as fried dishes or raw seafood to enhance the freshness and lightness of the meal.
3. Shaping Christmas tree from watermelon
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Preparation
2 minutes
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Cooking
45 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Shaping Christmas tree from watermelon For 16 pieces
Watermelon 1/4 piece (long fruit)
How to prepare Shaping Christmas tree from watermelon
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Cutting Watermelon
Use a large knife to cut the watermelon in half lengthwise, then continue to cut each half horizontally. In total, you will have 4 pieces of watermelon.
For each piece of watermelon, continue to slice it into pieces about the thickness of an adult’s finger.
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Carving a Christmas tree
The watermelon slice will have a triangular shape. The part of the watermelon flesh adjacent to the rind, you divide into 3 equal parts and then proceed to cut off the rind on the 2 side parts, leaving the middle part intact – that is the base of the Christmas tree.
Looking at one side of the watermelon slice, you divide it into 3 parts and use a knife to cut a V-shape at the division line of those 3 parts to create the shape of the tree. With the other side of the watermelon slice, you do the same.
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Final product
After creating the Christmas tree shape for the watermelon slice, you can arrange them on a separate plate or decorate them together with other fruits depending on your needs.
Watermelon is a fruit that contains a lot of water and has a refreshing sweet taste, making it very suitable for hot sunny days. Moreover, the tree made from watermelon has the familiar red color of Christmas while also providing an eye-catching shape for users.
4. Create a Christmas tree shape from a carrot
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Preparation
3 minutes
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Cooking
1 hour
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Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients for Creating a Christmas tree shape from a carrot For 1 piece
Carrot 1 piece
Tools needed
Carving knife, peeling knife.
How to create a Christmas tree shape from a carrot
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Creating the shape of the Christmas tree
Cut a piece of carrot about 3 – 4 adult finger lengths from the top of the carrot. Then, use a knife to trim the green stem, and start to carve grooves around the carrot stem to shape the tree’s trunk.
Next, taper the carrot from the stem to create the shape of the tree.
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Carving the grooves of the pine cone
Use a carving knife to carve a semi-circular shape with a diameter of about 1.5 finger widths, and continue carving around the entire pine cone.
For the next round, take the center point located on the upper semi-circle to carve a similar arc, just like carving interwoven petals between layers.
Keep carving until the entire pine cone is finished to create a complete shape.
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Final product
Since it is made from carrots, the pine cone has a very distinctive orange-red color. You can use the carrot pine cone to decorate roasted dishes at your Christmas party to add a special touch to the meal!
Thus, TasteVN has guided you through 4 ways to carve vegetables to create a Christmas tree shape for dishes during Christmas. We hope this information will give you more new ideas for your dishes!
