Themed food presentations are not only a creative way to display your pickling prowess, they also add central focus points on your holiday table or buffet. If done well, food presentations can actually replace expensive floral arrangements while being both a unique and functional conversation piece.
It may be no surprise at this point that we love a good pickle display. Two of our latest posts covered how to make and display relish tray as well as charcuterie boards.
Other popular displays include edible holiday wreaths, like the one pictured here.
The good news is that you really don’t have to be a Martha Stewart, a TV food personality like Rachel Ray, or a craft specialist such as the late Carol Duvall, to create a beautiful, decorative, pickle centerpiece.
We will walk you through it to make it easy and fun for you! In this example, we are going to build a holiday pickle tree, which is basically just a bunch of pickled vegetables arranged like a Christmas tree.
Step 1: Prep your food display and materials.
One of the things that you can learn from the best Chefs, is how to present your food with style and visual interest.
Too often, buffet table arrangements are, well, just flat, with no occasional elevations to create separations and attractive culinary landscapes. In this example, we will be displaying colorful foods in a dramatic tree-style display.
The star this show is none other than your Great Lakes Pickling Company pickled vegetables.
You can just use the classic pickled cucumber. However, for both visual and taste variety, we recommend considering the following choices:
- Cucumbers
- Cauliflower Floretes
- Colorful Bell Peppers (or Baby Sweet Peppers, as shown)
- Baby Carrots
- Yellow Squash
To add to the flavor profile, you can also use some un-pickled (gasp!) vegetables in your arrangement, such as grape tomatoes, celery, jicama, asparagus or broccoli.
While we love pickled everything, adding some cheese among your composition will subtantially add to the visual and taste. For the cheeses, we recommend selecting from the following:
- Sharp cheddar
- Smoked gouda
- Aged provolone
The last bit of produce that you’ll need is a leafy lettuce or kale (or both) to cover the tree’s surface before adding your pickled vegetables, fresh vegetables, and cheese. Adding fresh rosemary is a nice bonus as well.
The rest of your supplies include:
- A Styrofoam cone.
You can buy these from just about any craft store. They come in many sizes. Shown in the photos are two cones. One is 12 inches, the other, 18 inches. Choose the size that’s best suited to your family or invited guest list. Don’t be too concerned about whether it’s white or green because you’ll be covering it with greens anyway. Another consideration is securing the base of the cone to a larger disk of Styrofoam so that the finished tree remains stable. It’s particularly important if you choose a slender, tall cone to build your tree. - Green floral wire.
We strongly recommend wrapping the wire around the lettuce while applying it to the cone and before you add any products. This will allow the lettuce to remain secured to the cone even as your guest remove their choices from the tree. - Toothpicks or colorful frill picks.
Step 2: Build your tree.
- Pre-cut all of your fresh vegetable and chosen cheeses.
- Drain off the brine from your pickled vegetables and have ready.
- Secure your tree to a base with multiple toothpicks. (optional)
- Wash your leaf lettuce/kale and pat dry. Wrap loop of green floral wire ½” up from the base of the cone, then, beginning from the bottom of the cone, place a leaf of lettuce against the cone and secure it by wrapping the wire directly over the leaf. Continue adding leaves, one next to another while covering each with wire, going in a circular direction around the cone as you progress upward towards the top point. Floral wire can easily be snipped with a normal pair of scissors and the end, secured to one of the preceding loops.
- Add your chosen food products by again beginning at the base of the tree and working in a circular fashion as you progress up the tree. This will ensure the base remains stable as you build it.
- For an extra element of fun, we like the idea of creating a top piece which crowns your newly created masterpiece. We created our start from provolone cheese.
Creating unique, edible, holiday table centerpieces is not only a great way to show off the pickled vegetables you’ve created with Great Lakes Pickling Company, it also gives you the opportunity to create lasting and delicious holiday memories.
