Fruit carvings are popular in Asia, Malaysia and Hawaii. One of the foods that it is commonly used in centerpieces is the banana.
To make any type of carving out of a banana use a good hand paring or carving knife. Make sure it has a stainless steel or bronze blade. Make sure to sharpen any knives before using. Dull blades are more likely to slip in your hand (hands get slippery with juice doing this craft) and you could cut yourself. Some people also use cookie cutters or candy molds to help cut bananas for decorating purposes.
Making a successful fruit carving means choosing the right banana in the first place. If the banana is too ripe you will not be able to cut it. Choose a banana that is firm and whit inside. You do not want the banana to go mushy while you are carving so buying bananas that have a bit of a green tinge to their skin is very much recommended.
One of the easiest things to make is a banana centerpiece. Slice up the banana into coins and line it up along a plate. Stick a toothpick into each and then cut a strawberry into slices which makes a natural heart shape You can then stick the toothpick spearing the heart shapes with any type of fruit you want. A rounded piece of pineapple or watermelon works well as a base for this type of centerpiece.
You can also carve a banana octopus by opening the peel of a banana half-way. Take out half of the banana and then cut the peel into eight tentacles. Black peppercorns can be used as eyes.
It is also easy to make a Banana Daschund. Simply take an unpeeled banana and carve the foot shape out of the peel without stripping the banana. Open the peel of a second banana to make the head of the dog. Cut off half of the second banana and two of the four peels so that the two remaining peels look like dog heads. Attach the head to the body of the dog. Whole black pepper can be used to make eyes for the dog and a bit of red fruit or a maraschino cherry makes a nice shiny dog tongue.
This is one decorating project where it is okay to make a mistake. You can always mash up the left-overs and make banana bread!