Ripe Melons
Nothing beats a vine-ripened melon, especially cantaloupe. As I walked past one of the produce vendors last week at market the air was perfumed with melon. This is what the 19th century Iranian poet must have meant as I recalled a small book of verse describing such a scent as they strolled through the marketplace. It’s comforting to know the tradition and availability still exists.
As a child, one of the things I looked forward to was when Dad picked up fresh cantaloupe from a local farmer with a pickup truck bed full of melons set up by the side of the road. Sometimes it was watermelon, but more often cantaloupe either with a lacy rind or one encircled with grooves as if showing exactly how to slice the fruit into even sections. My grandmother favored honeydews, always with a dollop of cottage cheese on the side. Mom’s melon trick was to cube up a cantaloupe and freeze the bite-sized pieces on a cookie sheet so she could store them in a container for quick and refreshing treats. Wouldn’t those be awesome for the current heat wave?
But purchasing melons at market can be a tricky prospect, not because of determining ripeness, but because they tend to be larger, heavier items unwieldy to carry. Kudos to the shoppers who bring wheeled carts during melon season (and the rest of the year!) The farmers have also gotten onboard with this dilemma by growing smaller varieties of our favorite melons. Sugar Babies, anyone? Savvy shoppers now ask for them by name. My favorite are the parents who carry their children or make the kids walk while a big ol’ fat watermelon sits snuggly in the stroller.
The origins of melons is highly debated placing them first in Persia, the Levant, India, or Central Asia, but it was definitely West Asia who domesticated the species of Cucurbita into assorted varieties of shape and sweetness. Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, and Uzbekistan became the top producers of melons, their production documented in both ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.
Melons are trailing annual herbs that produce a modified berry called a pepo. A cucumber is also a pepo which means the seeds are suspended in flesh which are not divided into sections by a membrane like citrus. There are approximately forty different types of melons, only half of them sweet. In 2012 when scientists mapped the genome of melons, many were broken down into sub-species based upon their genetics.
History and genetics aside, customers are only worried about one thing: is it ripe? You can thump them, sniff them, and as Grandma Miller advised for choosing the best watermelon, look for the winder on the end. For cantaloupe I like to press the blossom end opposite of the stem end. If it gives to pressure, it’s ripe. If you’re thumb goes through the bottom, it’s overripe and if it doesn’t give at all, pass on it because it will most likely be hard and flavorless. Melons do not continue to ripen after picking. This is why getting your melons directly from the farmer helps ensure you get a ripe one. Melons that have to travel long distances are often picked too early for peak flavor. So when you walk past the melons at market and their aroma fills your head you know you’re bound to get a good one. I sure did.