There is perhaps nothing more refreshing on a hot day than a fruity drink. Sure, ice cream, Popsicles and beer all have their place in the chill summer pantheon, but the combination of something already so summery (fruit) with nature's most refreshing resource (water) is pure heaven when the thermometer is pushing 90 or 100 degrees. And no one does fruity drinks better than Mexicans (margarita, anyone?).
Shown above are gloriously green and outrageously orange aguas frescas, which translates loosely to "fresh waters." These are typically blended with fruits, cereals or seeds and, of course, sugar. These colorful concoctions from Deb at Smitten Kitchen are made with cantaloupe and honeydew melon, lime juice, sugar, salt, water and seltzer.
The twist of lime on each glass serves as a reminder that though these drinks don't contain any alcohol, they're still suitable to serve to grown-ups at fiestas.
The pepquiños are coming, the pepquiños are coming.
Hot off the news that it's now tiny melon season in Britain, the producers of what may just be the world's only bite-sized melon -- the pepquiño -- say they're growing these grape-size fruits on New York's Long Island.
"It's already in America, but very, very small," Nicolas Mazard, the U.S. manager of Koppert Cress, told Slashfood Thursday. "So it will be ready this summer."
Learn how to eat these 3/4-inch fruits after the jump.
By this time of the year, markets and grocery stores are overflowing with a gorgeous array of melons. There are a few ways to know when your melon is ripe. They involve understanding that there are two classes of melon: the muskmelons and the watermelons.
In Japan, the "flavor of the month" isn't barbecue, or citrus, or licorice, it's...citrulline.
Sound strange? It's an amino acid found in large amounts in watermelon, and it's being touted as a performance enhancer to the Olympic athletes in Beijing, China. It widens blood vessels, allowing for improved circulation, as well as increasing levels of nitric oxide, as well as breaking down lactic acid, (which, as our readers have gently reminded me, is not the scary substance we once thought it to be).
L-Citrulline has long been available in supplement form, but the Japanese are seeing how far they can market it, putting it into sports drinks, sports bars and even gum.
But mainly, it's just another excuse to eat a huge, juicy slice of watermelon.
Okay - one more grilled bevvy before the sandwich drink I'd teased earlier (seriously -- it's worth the wait). Like so many of my mixology experiments, it was inspired by some fresh produce I had on hand. There was an untouched honeydew melon left over from a bridal shower I'd hosted the weekend before (luckily, they keep well), and I happened to be grilling/smoking a beer can chicken anyhow. It all just came together organically, and the grill's flames added a pleasing touch of caramelized sweetness. I've a feeling I'll be chilling with this fizzy, fruity cooler all summer long.
Grilled Honeydew Sorbet Sparkler
1 honeydew melon 1 1/4 cups sugar 3 tbsp fresh lime juice (approx 2 limes) 2 tbsp vodka Club soda, prosecco or cava Lime rind
Split a honeydew melon in half, remove pulp and seeds, and grill face-down on the top rack until insides are softened and the surface is caramelized. Scoop out insides and chill in a bowl in the refrigerator.
Once chilled, use a food processor or immersion blender to combine the sugar, lime juice and vodka into the melon, and liquefy. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and prepare according to the manufacturer's instructions. Then transfer the sorbet into an airtight container and chill into the freezer until uniformly hardened.
Fill a goblet with several scoops of sorbet, and top with club soda, prosecco or cava. Garnish with lime rind twist and serve immediately.
Spending the long weekend in the garden? More than likely, you've already got it going with fruits and vegetables for harvest later this summer, but if you have any room left in that little plot, you might want to plant these awesome melons - Moon and Stars.
The melons aren't green like the regular watermleons we're used to seeing. The medium-sized oval fruits are darker green and covered with pea-sized bright yellow "stars" and usually one "moon" (hence, the name). The inside of the melon looks like regular watermleons wiht pink flesh and brown seeds.
The seeds to grow these beauties are available from Seed Savers Exchange.
Along with the check, after dinner one night last week, the waiter brought over a few stick of gum to our table. It wasn't a subtle hint that our breath needed freshening, but the restaurants way of presenting diners with an "after dinner mint" of sorts. The gum, as it turned out, was melon flavored and, though it was excellent, made me wonder what ever happened to real after dinner mints.
For years and years, it seemed as though every single restaurant either had a small basket of mints at the host/hostess stand near the front door or delivered a few mints to the table with the bill. Mints gradually faded from popularity until they were only found at a handful or family-friendly restaurants, left in the face of declining popularity to appease children. Now, those restaurants seem to only grudgingly offer toothpicks. While the mints weren't necessarily candies of the highest order, I still enjoyed them, whether peppermint, cinnamon or, on occasion, chocolate. Can we get them back, please? Melon gum is lovely, but it just doesn't provide the same satisfying conclusion to a meal.
To cut up a melon, I usually take the following step: slice it in half, scoop out any non-edible innards, place cut side down on a cutting board and remove the rind with a sharp knife. Once the rind is removed, I proceed to slice and serve the melon.
But removing the rind can be tricky, especially with larger melons or for cooks who don't have a sharp knife at the ready, so the Melon Ease melon slicer offers an alternative method of melon preparation. Once your melon is sliced in half and has the seeds removed, the slicer is inserted into the melon and it cuts the melon into even segments. With a simple twist of the top handle, the slices are separated from the rind and ready to eat.
This doesn't seem like a "must have" gadget for most homes, and I won't even get in to the fact that it will be difficult to store, but if you eat a lot of melon, you might just get a lot of use out of it.
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.
This is the Domestic Goddess's Watermelon and Feta Salad and if there is a more refreshing side dish on a hot summer day, I'm not sure what it would be. It is also very simple to make; the chilled salad has the crunchy sweetness of watermelon, its juiciness enhanced by mixing it with salty, creamy feta cheese. Jennifer has added chopped parsley to hers for a bit of color contrast, but I have seen recipes, like Nigella Lawson's, that call for adding chopped olives to the mix. Paula Deen's recipe asks for slivered onions to be included. The Traveler's Lunchbox tosses pinenuts and basil in with the watermelon. Whichever combination of flavors you end up using, this is a great use for watermelon and a beautiful, sweet-and-savory side to replace potato salad at your next bbq.
We have seen pyramidal watermelons before, and we have known that square watermelons have been on the Japanese market for some time. I have never seen one in my local market, but I would definitely not mind getting my hands on one just for the novelty factor. Fortunately, I caught a post that showed how to do it when I was browsing at Boing Boing. It looks like you just put the immature watermelon into a box with a removable side. As it matures, it grows into the shape of the box - just like a bonsai kitten, but much less disturbing.
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.
We've seen strangely shaped
watermelons and monster
watermelons, but we have yet to see watermelon carving of the magnitude found in this online gallery. The horse and cyclist,
shown above, are two of my favorites, though the skiier and Taj Mahal are very impressive. Watermelons are natural
canvases for food art due to their large size and thick but easily carved rind. The fact that they are colorful is an
added bonus. With a sharp knife and a steady hand, it does not seem like it would be that difficult to carve a
basic pattern into a watermelon - after all, thousands of children carve into pumpkins every year, and watermelon
carving does not require you to gut the fruit before starting.
Starbucks is releasing their new Green Tea
Latte in the US today. The green tea lattes are already available at many other Starbucks locations throughout the
world. Unlike their Green Tea Frappuccino from last summer, which was made with a premixed base, the tea latte is built
just like a regular latte - with freshly steamed milk. They are flavored with matcha, which is powdered green tea, a a
splash of melon-flavored syrup. If you like the flavor of the green tea and don't want to cover it up with the melon
flavor, take Hungry Girl's advice and ask
for your latte to be made with half the amount of syrup. Alternatively, try vanilla syrup instead of the melon
altogether.
Just please don't ask the baristas to add a shot of espresso to your tea drink. I know that I have seen a lot of
people do it, but it's just not right.
Spending the long weekend in the garden? More than likely, you've already got it going with fruits and vegetables for harvest later this summer, but if you have any room left in that little plot, you might want to plant these awesome melons - 
Along with the check, after dinner one night last week, the waiter brought over a few stick of gum to our table. It wasn't a subtle hint that our breath needed freshening, but the restaurants way of presenting diners with an "after dinner mint" of sorts. The gum, as it turned out, was melon flavored and, though it was excellent, made me wonder what ever happened to real after dinner mints.
To cut up a melon, I usually take the following step: slice it in half, scoop out any non-edible innards, place cut side down on a cutting board and remove the rind with a sharp knife. Once the rind is removed, I proceed to slice and serve the melon.
To bring something more unusual than a floral arrangement to decorate the table, try making and edible
centerpiece. The 
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