I've been able to buy really good cantaloupes this year, and that's rare here! A co-worker once told me to sprinkle fresh lemon juice on cantaloupes when they lack flavor... it's supposed to accentuate the sweetness. I think it helps.

I had a chicken salad plate yesterday out for lunch that came with fruit - cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes and fresh pineapple. The melons were crunchy but not much flavor. Refreshing, though. I don't buy cantaloupe in the grocery store unless they sell them cut in half so I can see the flesh.

I only buy cantaloupes/rockmelons from a local grower's roadside stand where the melons are always delicious. I haven't found a decent one in a grocer's in years, they're either crunchy and tasteless or like wet cardboard and tasteless.

Grocery stores sell cantaloupe that were picked too soon. This has become the practice in recent years, so I don't buy them. Look for a melon that has a belly button where the stem was attached. If the nub of the stem is still attached where the belly button should be, it will never develop the flavor or sweetness. And don't buy any with black mold on them--it changes the taste of the melon. I also look for some tan or golden skin under the webbing on the melon rind.

We've had really good cantaloupe lately, including this morning. As for honeydew, I haven't had a good one in years.

I check the stem end, the colour and the smell, but they are still awful from the grocery.

I've never had a honeydew I cared for. I do like Piel de Sapo/Santa Claus/Christmas melons though. They are consistently sweet.

A volunteer squash vine in the corner of my bean trellis. As it turned out, it was a cantaloupe vine. It gave me a large and beautiful cantaloupe melon.

It tasted lousy.

So I cooked it. Stir fried with chicken. It was delicious.

dcarch

I don't shake cantaloupe, that is what you do to test honeydew melon. You should hear the seeds slopping around inside the honeydew when you shake it close to your ear.

I go by aroma too - and sadly, there haven't been any fragrant ones around here in awhile.

Definitely farmer's market or home grown. For the supermarkets, we tend to have a fairly decent quality in-season here, when they source locally. But also, if lacking those potions, the Dulcinea hybrids marketed as Tuscan are usually reliable, since they are bred to blend flavor and the ability to transport. They look like like Charentais melons.

I only buy cantaloupe when it's in season and locally produced. I grow some myself or buy from various farmer's markets and local suppliers. Unlike watermelons, cantaloupe smells ripe. I'm only half joking when I say that it is ripe when it's been on the counter for a few days and the kitchen is starting to smell composty. If there's a small soft over-ripe spot, the rest of it is probably perfect.

Drive out into the country and get them at a roadside stand.

The owner of a roadside melon stand in Colorado showed me how to check if a Honeydew is ripe. She said to rub the melon with your open palms. If it feels a little sticky, then it is ripe. If it feels smooth and there is no 'friction', then pass it up.

I have managed to find a whole two good honeydews at WalMart this summer. And they were very good but not as good as those Colorado melons. They grow some died & gone to Heaven melons out there!

We have had an outstanding fruit year all around, but I still like that NY state allows tastings before purchasing. One market vendor has about two dozen apple varieties and all are fronted with tasting slices.

Such a waste of earned dollars to spent a penny on a dud.

There's a real greengrocer 45 miles away. I got good cantaloupe there. The honeydew was just "meh" but at least not crispy. Suppliers are everything. You probably won't find ripe melons in a place that doesn't have a high produce turnover. Does not pay for them to have ripe ones on hand, they won't sell enough before they rot. A farm market on the other hand, if they grow them, has to move them out when they are ripe!

I tend to buy papaya instead of cantaloupe, and I got a very sweet five-pound one at Cárdenas Market a couple of days ago, along with a large dragon fruit. I put lime juice on the papaya to cut the sweetness, which is how I had them in Mexico. I've not had good success in growing papaya here, partly because I have bad soil, but I've had great success in growing dragon fruit and cherimoya.

If I were going to buy cantaloupe, I would buy it at a farmers' market. When I buy cantaloupe, I cut it into cubes, put the cubes in a freezer bag without air, and freeze the cubes. Then I make an instant sorbet by putting the frozen cubes in the blender. If it is not sweet enough, I add Apriva or Stevia, but you can use a simple sugar syrup if you do not use those. Usually the flavor is still there, even if they are not as sweet as you might like.

five of six I purchased were 'meh' this season (the best was fresh from a local farmer at the FM) ... will stick with the seedless watermelons, which are actually flavorful when compared to musk melons