"melon" news and stories

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.

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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.

 

 

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