Thoughts on approaching this week’s box from subscriber Conne Ward Cameron.
What a gift – both a watermelon and a sweet little cantaloupe in today’s box. Most of us are probably eating them right out of the rind, enjoying the juicy essence of summer. But check out this recipe for linguine with cantaloupe and sausage from subscriber Andrea B.: https://grassfedcow.com/
Melons are pretty good keepers. Those tough rinds make good storage containers. If you can plan to eat that cantaloupe in a day or so, you don’t have to refrigerate it. A room temperature cantaloupe is going to be as fragrant as possible. (But I do prefer my watermelon chilled.) But a cantaloupe won’t keep on the counter forever.
If it’s going to be in your kitchen for a few days, refrigerate, and if you cut into that cantaloupe but don’t eat it all, then keep the seeds in the half you don’t eat. That helps keep the melon fresher. Once cut, you should probably eat it up in a day or two.
I’m making lots of melon salsas these days, usually riffing on a mango salsa recipe. I could make dinner out of a bowl of melon salsa and a slice of toasted sourdough. Or dicing them and sprinkling with lime juice and chili powder.
If you’ve got more melon than you can/want to consume (is that possible?) right now, chunk up the fruit and freeze it. Now you’ve got a great start on agua fresca or a melon smoothie. I remember once getting so carried away at a farmer market with the smell of fragrant cantaloupes that I took home so many I ended up making cantaloupe preserves. Tasty.
For melon drinks, they’re usually a combination of melon with a little citrus (frequently lime) and maybe some mint. If you keep simple syrup on hand, then you can sweeten as needed.
A reminder that melon/feta salads are everywhere these days. You can make them in any of a dozen ways. Or do a riff on a caprese salad, with melon and mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and maybe sprinkled with some chopped basil. We’ve got several versions at https://grassfedcow.com/
I just saw a recipe for a Watermelon Wedge salad – wedges of melon drizzled with a dressing very much like blue cheese but with feta instead. Not sure how I feel about that one …
And I’m seeing lots of recipes for grilled melon as well. I’m not a fan of grilled fruit, as it turns out, but I think that’s because our grill grates are just a little too “meaty” for the clean taste I’d want in grilled fruit. If you’re a better grill cleaner than someone in my household, maybe grilled melon is just what you want to accompany your dinner.