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.

• Restaurant Week begins in Boston today. Here are some tips.
• A recipe for fish chowder. Gah, I hate fish chowders and soups!
• Charles Pierce on how a diet can be good for the body, but not for the soul.
• The best tapas in Maine?
• J.P. Licks has some new ice cream flavors as it celebrates 25 years.
• A profile of Mizzannye's, a family-owned BBQ sauce company.
• August is the best time for melons.
• The joy of an 8-inch zucchini. (I know, I know, zucchinis and melons...get your mind out of the gutter!)
• More recipes: Watermelon Blueberry Coolers and Tony's Chicken and Rice.

Summer is the season of fruit, since it seems that more things are in season than at any other time of year. Not only is fruit good for you in terms of nutritional value, but fruits can even help you lose weight. The easiest way to incorporate fruits into your diet is to cut up a large bowl of them and keep them in the fridge. A fruit salad will last longer than fruits stored at room temperature and, because they are already cut up, they are available for snacks and other meals.

There is no recipe for fruit salad, so you can include any kind of fruit you like. Melons and stone fruits, such as peaches and nectarines, are good choices and berries, grapes and pineapple work well, too. For breakfast, serve the fruit salad with yogurt and honey, adding a topping of nuts or granola for some crunch. This combination works well for a light lunch, too. Fruit salad can't really be the focus of dinner, but it can still be served as a side and provides a particularly nice contrast to smoky, tangy barbecue.

And for dessert? Berries and sweetened whipped cream still counts as a fruit salad, right?

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.

Watermelons hardly constitute solid food, given that they are 92% water. Nevertheless, they are kept intact by their hard, green rind and so make one of the most refreshing, healthy summer treats you can imagine.

Watermelons have more lycopene (an antioxidant) than any other fruit or vegetable, with more than four times the amount per serving than a large tomato. They are free from fat, cholesterol and are very low in calories. Though there is sugar in the melons, it is naturally diluted by the high levels of water in the fruit. Watermelons also have high amounts of vitamins A, B6, C and potassium.

The first recorded watermelons were enjoyed in ancient Egypt, approximately 5,000 years ago. Through trade, watermelons made their way to China, where they became popular rapidly, before firmly establishing themselves in Europe around the thirteenth century. Today, there are 1,200 varieties of watermelon (not counting oddly shaped ones). Some of the most popular include picnic melons, which are oblong and quite large; seedless and miniature/individual, which are growing in popularity. By and large, the fruits are juicy and sweet. Most varieties, and certainly the most popular, have red flesh, though there are types that grow with different colored flesh, such as yellow. China is still the number one producer of watermelons in the world, followed by Turkey, Iran, the US and Egypt.