The next time you come across a basket of fruit, don't just eat it. Have some fun with
it first. In this project, we're converting any ordinary apple, into a decorative, and
completely edible, apple swan.
Go find your basket of fruit, and pick out an apple you think looks good. Now, using
a sharp cutting knife, carefully cut the apple at a slight diagonal, so that it slices right
through the center, of the apple core. While we're here, let's save 2 of the seeds, because
we'll be needing them later. Now that we've got our two halves, let's take the side that
still has the bottom attached, and place it face down on a cutting board. We'll need to
place 2 butter knives perpendicular with the top and bottom of the apple. Now we can carefully
cut down along one side of the apple core until the knife bottoms out on our makeshift
spacers. Then use the spacers as a guide to gently cut in from the side. When the two
cuts meet, you'll have an apple wedge that pops right out. And while we're here, let's
cut a piece from the other side the same way. Now our goal with these, is to cut out 3 more
"L" shaped wedges, about 1/4 inch thick. And this time, rather than cutting in sideways
toward your fingers, try turning the piece over so you can cut downward, and meet the
first cut at the bottom. Now with a little wiggle, a new apple wedge should break free.
If you repeat the process 2 more times, then stagger the pieces back together, the effect,
is a beautifully layered wing. Now, just cut the other piece the same way, and your swans
body should look like this. To make a place for the head, all we need to do is carefully
cut into the front of the body, and gently lift the pieces out, to reveal a clean, and
fairly deep groove. At this point, we can go ahead and grab the other half of the apple,
and place it between the butter knives like before. But this time, we're just going to
use them as spacers, to cut an even slice off the bottom. You can see that repeating
this process 3 or 4 times, gives us a nice variety of shapes and sizes. Now look for
a piece that resembles a heart that's been slightly flattened on top. All it takes to
form the swan head is three strategic cuts with a knife. I made one angled cut to form
the head, a horizontal cut to form the neck, and one slanted cut at the bottom for the
base. Now you should be able to see how this is coming together, and to clean it up a bit,
just use your knife to round off the sharp edges. All that's left now is to place the
apple seeds where you think the eyes should go, then use the side of a butter knife to
press them firmly into position. When both eyes look good, simply drop the neck into
place, and you're done. You've just created a beautiful and decorative, apple swan. I
spritzed mine with a bit of lemon juice to help prevent it from turning brown, then put
it on display to show off, for our dinner guests later that night. If you try using
different apples, you'll get a nice contrast of colors, and every bird will look a little
bit different. Well now you know how to take any ordinary apple, and turn it into a decorative
and edible, apple swan. If you liked this project, perhaps you'll like some of my others.
Check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com