Recipes for so so cantaloupe sans cured meats

8 years ago

I paid top dollar for a home field grown cantaloupe yesterday, planning on using it for breakfasts or lunches with cottage cheese. Just had that this morning and this cantaloupe is not very soft or tasty. It was starting to go soft on the outside but it isn't particularly ripe seeming on the inside, other than color. I guess it has been a bad cantaloupe year. I know many of you would just throw it out, but I would still like to discover if there is some way to use it/eat it that might off set its firm, bland taste. Most of the cantaloupe you get in the store tastes that way anyway, so it is a common quality that cantaloupes have these days, so I think ideas on how to use that might be very useful. Creative use of marginal foods can give good results sometimes. I'm making banana bread today, for example, to use up my overripe bananas.

I know a classic way to present cantaloupe is wrapped with prosciutto or some other type of cured meat, but I can't eat cured meat for several health reasons.

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Lars/J. Robert Scott

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I make sorbet out of cantaloupe. First I peel it, remove seeds, cut it into cubes, and then freeze the cubes in a plastic bag with all the air removed. Then I put the frozen cubes in the blender with sweetener - lately I use Splenda, but you can use a simple syrup - just enough to make it sweet to your taste. In Mexico I frequently bought paletas de melon, (made with cantaloupe), and they were one of my favorites. If you prefer, you can also add a bit of yogurt to the sorbet to make a frozen yogurt, but I generally do not do that. Once you freeze the cantaloupe, you can leave it in the freezer for a few days (or weeks), and so you don't have to use it right away. You can use other melons, but cantaloupe is the best for this sorbet. I've been making this recipe since the 1980s.

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Comments (15)

party_music50
8 years ago
A friend from work taught me long ago to squeeze fresh lemon juice onto less than ideal cantaloupe to bring out its sweetness. It's a trick he learned from airlines. I think it helps a lot!
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nandina
8 years ago
Do a quick search for 'roasted cantaloupe'. Some interesting ideas that sound delicious. I plan to try this cooking method when stuck with a less than perfect melon.
Compumom
8 years ago
I don't understand why we can't get good cantaloupe in the US when I'm in Italy, it's wonderful! I've enjoyed proscuitto and melon multiple places in Italy and it's so sweet!
plllog
8 years ago
Where are you looking for cantaloupe? I haven't bought it for a few months through boredom, but I haven't had problems. Out of season they sometimes arrive at the stores underripe, but ripen fine in a paper bag for 3-6 days.
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Lars/J. Robert Scott
8 years ago
The oranges I bought in Italy were better than the ones I buy here also. I think it might have something to do with the soil or perhaps the distance that the fruit travels.
l pinkmountain
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I dunno. This place I bought it from grows it, and it is usually good. It rotted rather than ripening, which is why I have to use it up. I cut off the rotted part, it was very small. Our August weather was weird, I know that.
sheilajoyce_gw
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
In recent years, producers pick cantaloupe when it is far from ripe, and that means it will never develop a nice flavor. You can tell if it was picked too soon by looking at the stem end of the melon. If it has an indented belly button, it was picked when it was close to ripe. If there is a little stem still attached and thus no belly button, it will never develop its flavor. Picked too soon, which is the only kind I find in our stores these days.
plllog
8 years ago
Thanks, Sheilajoyce. I've never seen anything but the belly button, and learned to check there, and for the look and feel of the rind, as well as the sound when thumped. I don't want any stem on never ripe melons!!! Why do they bother producing inedible fruit? Why not just sell wax, at that point, if it's just for looks?
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I've done smoothies w/ less than ideal melon - chunks of frozen cantaloupe and fresh squeezed orange juice - added a bit of honey or syrup if not sweet enough. That made it go fast!

And you can freeze the smoothies for an easy sorbet too.

I like to smell cantaloupes to check for ripeness.
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Anglophilia
8 years ago
One usually eats so little prosciutto that it's typically not a problem for those who can't eat cured meat. It's so lovely with melon!

It's very hard to find a good cantaloupe. Small, local green grocers often have the best, as they often buy from local growers who don't pick them totally "green".

My favorite melon is an Orange Flesh Melon. It's a variety that came from mixing a honeydew melon and a cantaloupe. It is the BEST melon I've ever eaten! It's more the texture and sweetness of a good honeydew, but with the color and flavor of a cantaloupe. They are in-season from August through mid-September so you'll have to wait until next year to try one. Michigan Honeyrock melons are similar.
colleenoz
8 years ago
I really like the Piel de Sapo (Santa Claus) melon.
Islay Corbel
8 years ago
Melon's nice with port.
lisaam
8 years ago
I used to make a nice chilled cantaloupe soup with frozen tangerine concentrate (hard to find now) and cinnamon. Another flavor-way is buttermilk and a dash of chipotle.
l pinkmountain
Original Author
8 years ago
I could actually see the melons growing outside the farm market where I got this . . . unless they did a bait and switch on me! It passed all the tests. We just didn't have warm enough weather for true ripening. Tomatoes aren't that nice either this year.

I've always wanted to try melon soup . . . hmmmm.

Recipes for so so cantaloupe sans cured meats

Lars/J. Robert Scott

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party_music50

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Recipes for so so cantaloupe sans cured meats

Comments (15)

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l pinkmountainOriginal Author

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