"cantaloupe" news and stories

My grandma Bunny (her real name was Edith, but she disliked it so intensely that she renamed herself Bunny at summer camp when she was nine-years-old and never looked back) loved melon. The smell of ripening cantaloupe or casaba melon is one of the scents I associate with her Southern California ranch house (that and the aroma of the Am-way products in the garage).

She died before my interest in food and cooking really blossomed, and so we never really got a chance to sit around and talk food tips, experiences and advice. However, her love of melon coupled with her sense of humor makes me think that she would have really enjoyed John T. Edge's recent post on the Gourmet's Choptalk blog entitled My Wife Abuses Our Melons. Since she's not around to get a chuckle out of his story about how his wife leaves the cantaloupes in the trunk to ripen via concussion, I thought I'd share it with you all. I hope you enjoy.

Photo link.

Dole has issued a recall on cartons of cantaloupes in the Eastern US and Quebec, Canada, after discovering the fruit tested positive for salmonella. Approximately 6000 cartons of the Costa Rican-grown fruit were distributed to wholesalers between the dates of February 5th though 8th, though no reports of illness have yet come in.

Though I don't know how this will help those that bought individual cantaloupes, the cartons they were packaged in were dark brown with red lettering and have a 13-digit number on them with the tenth digit of 2. If you think you may have purchased some, you can contact the store where you got them, or Dole directly at 1-800-232-8888.

Though a salmonella infection can be fatal, the most common symptoms are diarrhea, fever, dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting.

Source

At first glance, especially with this interior photo, this fruit looks like a cantaloupe. It's not. It's an orange-flesh honeydew melon. I first spotted these unusual yellow-skinned melons at the market this week. They were simply labeled "Orange Flesh," not as a distinct type of melon, but they smelled delicious, so I thought I would give them a try. Apparently, another name for these is the Temptation Melon and they are actually a hybrid between cantaloupes and honeydews. It has a smooth, thin yellow skin and a creamy orange interior that is both juicy and sweet - combining the defining traits of both melon types, though it actually tastes more like honeydew than cantaloupe. I highly recommend picking one up if you can find them.

To bring something more unusual than a floral arrangement to decorate the table, try making and edible centerpiece. The DiY Network has a brief tutorial on turning heads of cabbage and zucchini squash into beautiful, blooming cacti.

You can also try your own "floral" arrangements by using a cookie cutter to punch out fruit in the shapes of stars and flowers. If you're not feeling crafty, though, you can always buy an Edible Arrangement. They're bouquets of festively arranged fruit "flowers" in attractive baskets and pitchers. A few of their arrangements are dressed up with chocolate covered strawberries, though the most prominent fruits are honeydew, cantaloupe and pineapple.