Fruit baskets are labeled as traditional gifts bordering on the generic. Wondering what to give for a baby shower? Why not a fruit basket? How about for a graduation? A fruit basket! For a granted divorce party? A fruit basket! Although the fruit baskets look and taste good, the generic tag diminishes their value. This is one of the downfalls of being an easy gift to give. Fortunately, makers of more fruit baskets recognize these problems and have taken some tasty actions. More fruit baskets are being sold in more varieties and with tastier components. These days, more fruit baskets are designed with focus on the variety of the fruits. Tropical fruits like mangoes and pineapples find themselves mixed in with cold weather fruits like apples. This mixing provides contrast, which makes the fruit baskets more interesting. Some fruit basket designers go the other way by using a single fruit for their baskets. For example, berry basket uses different types of berries, ranging from the popular strawberries to the exotic gooseberries. Adding blooms and cut flowers to fruit basket arrangements boost the look and value of the gift. Fruit baskets have used this trick in the past but only as accents. This trick evolved to another popular trend, which mixes floral arrangements with fruit baskets. No longer an accent, more fruit baskets sport amazing floral arrangements. A berry basket filled with blueberries looks beautiful with a bouquet of blue hydrangeas. Likewise, pale pink roses provide great contrast to a basket of Granny Smiths. Fruits are great taken with a variety of other good eats. Nuts are good examples of these good eats. Remember trail mixes, those little packets with nuts, dried fruits, and raisins? Think of nuts and fruits baskets as fresh trail mixes. In addition to being crunchy and crisp, these trail mixes in a basket are a lot juicier, too. More fruit baskets are also fond of displaying fruit in a variety of ways: fresh, dried, cooked, or preserved. Current fruit baskets include boxes of crystallized pineapples and dried apricots in their baskets. Others content themselves with jars of preserves, marmalades, jellies, and jams. More fruit baskets are also going gourmet. It is not uncommon to see fruit baskets packaged with bottles of wine, champagne, and designer chocolates. Cheeses are also great accompaniments to fruits. Good Italian cheeses like smoked and fresh mozzarella, gorgonzola, ricotta, mascarpone, or parmesan find their way inside fruit baskets. Other baskets sport authentic gourmet meats and sauces. Salami, pancetta, and prosciutto are usually accompanied by Italian sauces in gourmet fruit baskets. With the different varieties of fruit baskets sold today, it is a tough decision to just choose one. Fortunately, manufacturers decided to come up with more fruit baskets containing a bit of each mix-in. The result? Highly specialized and very delicious fruit baskets anybody would be glad to receive. |
