What Are Crudites? ♥ Vegetables 101

What Are Crudités? (And How to Build a Stunning Platter) another Vegetables 101 ♥ A Veggie Venture

How to Create a Colorful Instagram-Friendly Platter of Raw Vegetables


graphic button small size size 10 All you need to know about vegetable crudités, those simple-to-stunning plates and platters of raw colorful vegetables served everywhere from casual parties to formal receptions but also, in simple form, at family tables. Let's talk vegetable crudités – the meaning of the crudites, what they are, how to pronounce the French word and more. Plus for anyone wondering which vegetables work well for crudites and looking for ideas to present them beautifully? Here I share my very best tips for for choosing, cleaning, cutting and displaying fresh vegetables in Instagram-friendly fashion. graphic button small size size 10


WHAT ARE CRUDITÉS?

THE SHORT ANSWER Crudités are fresh, colorful and usually raw vegetables, cut small for easy finger food and displayed attractively, often on a beautiful platter or interesting tray with a dip or two but also in individual cups at kids' birthday parties.

Crudités can be simple, as unassuming as a single carrot stick alongside a sandwich. You can even buy crudités at the grocery store, often in plastic trays with separate sections for carrots, celery and maybe some grape tomatoes? Yes, those are crudités! But trust me, we can definitely do better than that.

Crudités can be elaborate, as complicated and bountiful as you want. Hotels and caterers are especially good at constructing especially beautiful trays of fresh, colorful vegetables.

Crudités can be fun! It takes only time and imagination to build a platter of vegetables that look like a comical turkey for Thanksgiving or a Christmas tree with lights for holiday parties and train cars for a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party.

Crudités for Word Dancers

HOW TO PRONOUNCE CRUDITÉS? It's a fancy French word, [pronounced kroo-de-tay, kro͞odəˈtā].

WHAT'S THE SINGULAR OF CRUDITÉS? The singular use is the same as the plural use. One crudités, two crudités. If you see the word "crudité" (without an s, attempting to create a singlular form), the spelling is in error, the word always ends with s, singular and plural both.

IS THERE A BETTER WORD for VEGGIE TRAYS? Not that I can think of! What do you use? What do you call those veggie trays??? We might be stuck with crudités.

Dip Ideas for Vegetable Crudites

If you run out of time, just mix some fresh herbs into ranch dressing, it'll be a hit! But if there's time, a homemade dip or spread will look pretty and appeal to people who just don't do veggies without a dip. Here are a few favorites!

Almonnaise (Vegan Mayonnaise Made from Almonds)
Baba Ganoush (Middle Eastern Eggplant Spread)
Crazy-Smooth Crazy-Good Hummus
Cucumber Dip with Feta
Roasted Eggplant “Hummus" (Eggplant & Chickpea Dip & Spread)





HOW TO SERVE RAW VEGETABLES: COLORFUL INSTAGRAM-FRIENDLY PLATES, PLATTERS & TRAYS of CRUDITÉS

Hands-on time: allow plenty of time, it always takes longer than I think
Time to table: serve within a couple of hours of assembling
Serves 1 to many

Thinking Ahead

Give yourself a head start by washing the vegetables ahead of time, even the day before. But for the prettiest presentation and greatest freshness, don't cut up the vegetables until a couple of hours before serving.

Definitely make the dip the day or two ahead of time, they often taste better the second day! I have several favorite dips but Roasted Eggplant “Hummus" (Eggplant & Chickpea Dip & Spread) is definitely at the top of the list.

Choose a plate or platter or tray with either slope or sides, making it easier to "contain" the vegetables when moving it from your workspace to the fridge to the table. That said, no need to paint within the lines here, some vegetables look great when artfully hanging off the sides.

In hot weather, extra points if you can figure out a way for the crudités to rest on ice.

Oh! The Color! Choosing the Vegetables

You'll want at least three different vegetables, choose a mix that can "paint" the platter with different colors, shapes and textures.

But go ahead and break the "multi color" rule. One of the prettiest plates of vegetables I've ever seen was "tone on tone" – different shades of green.

Or go all holiday! It was this wonderful Thanksgiving Turkey Vegetable Platter that then led to Christmas Tree Vegetable Platter and then to Thomas the Tank Engine Vegetable Trains. These totally get attention – and eaten!
Know your eaters! Familiar vegetables are good for kids and conservative eaters. Unusual vegetables are fun for curious eaters.

More than anything, know that freshness matters with crudités. Last summer, we hosted a dinner at a fancy club and I was so upset to pay something like $12 per person for a vegetable platter that included ugly radishes, the old, woody ones from the bag, not even the fresh, pretty ones with leaves.

Not So Fancy Knife Work: Cutting the Vegetables

Keep the vegetable pieces just one to two bites big. For example, cut big pieces of cauliflower and broccoli down to small florets.

Before cutting vegetables, consider several things. What is its natural shape? What would be an unusual, unexpected way to cut it? What shape would be interesting on the platter, and maybe hasn't been used yet? What shape would be easy to eat?

Try to incorporate "more" of the plant than less. For example, instead of celery sticks, use the top section of a rib of celery, including the leaves. But do keep in mind what would be awkward for the eaters. For example, I often see Instagram-perfect crudités that include graceful swirls of carrot leaves. But who's gonna pick up a carrot with all that attached? (And they wilt, fast, so there's that too.) Instead, leave an inch or two of the green stem.

Show off the architecture of the vegetable. For example, I love to cut mini peppers in half vertically. Those beautiful multi-colored carrots from Trader Joe's are so pretty too!

Raw Veggies Plus ...

Crudités vegetables are usually raw but there's no reason not to sneak in a pickled vegetable such as Quick Pickled Asparagus.

In turn, some vegetables can serve as "carriers" for a bit of wet cheese or dip on one end. Think individual leaves of endive, endive, bok choy, butter lettuce and chard. And mini peppers, halved, can also be stuffed with a little something.

Crudités platters are often all vegetables but these are some fresh, creative additions:
Olives (in small bowls)
A few toasted nuts, stick to the savory side such as Party Nuts with Fresh Rosemary
Hard-cooked egg halves, perhaps the sweet little mini quail eggs
Roasted chickpeas
Fresh herbs, in sprigs
Cheese straws

Good Crudités Vegetables by Color

GREEN
Asparagus (choose thin to serve raw, discard the woody ends, to use thick asparagus, use Party Asparagus with Aioli)
Broccoli (the stalks are especially nice, and unexpected!)
Cauliflower (those beautiful heads of romanesco)
Celery
Cucumber (usually English or mini for their tender skins but if you've got good garden cucumbers, you can "stripe" the skins and remove the center seeds and then cut rings)
Green beans (make sure they're tender enough to eat raw)
Snow peas (ditto)
Sugar snap peas (ditto)
Zucchini

RED / ORANGE / YELLOW
Bell peppers & mini peppers
Carrots (especially multi-colored carrots; do peel carrots but consider leaving an inch or so of stem; repeat this three times: no baby carrots, no baby carrots, no baby carrots!)
Radishes (especially good halved and spread with a little butter, then sprinkled with a bit of good salt)
Tomatoes, grape or other mini (leave bits of stem on!)
Yellow squash

WHITE / PALE
Cauliflower
Daikon (its bit of bite is much appreciated)
Fennel
Hearts of palm (drained well)
Jicama (one of my very favorites, so crisp and wet)
Kohlrabi
Mushrooms

PURPLE
Cauliflower (those lovely purple heads!)
Beets (pickled, such as Refrigerator Pickled Beets, drained well and held in a bowl so the color won't stain other vegetables)

To Blanch or Not to Blanch

I'm no fan of blanching, it's another step and a fussy one to boot. But some vegetables are easier to eat if they've been dropped briefly into boiling water, then into ice water to stop the cooking and preserve the color. Me, I choose something else. But these are some vegetables that can be blanched or even, in the case of potatoes, need cooking in full.
Broccolini
Corn (cut in rounds)
Edamame in the shells (be sure to include a special bowl for the inedible shells)
Okra
Potatoes (the mini ones, maybe halved)

Crudités Vegetables to Avoid

Avocado
Beets
Brussels sprouts
Butternut squash
Cabbage
Eggplant (shouldn't be served raw)
Green onions! (who wants onion breath?!)
Kale
Parsnips
Rutabaga
Spinach & other greens
Sweet potatoes
Tomatillo
Turnips
Winter squash


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Still Hungry?



CRUNCH-CRUNCH!
MORE FAVORITE VEGETABLES for CRUDITÉS PLATTERS

~ Thai-Style Celery & Peanut Butter ~
~ Baba Ganoush (Middle Eastern Eggplant Spread) ~
~ Asparagus Tapenade ~
~ more crudités ideas ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Cucumber Dip with Feta ~
~ Herbed Ricotta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes ~
~ Easy Italian Appetizers ~
~ more appetizer recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2018 & 2019


Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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