Cantaloupe

[monavano]

About 2 months ago, I got a $2 canteloupe from Safeway, and it was great. Even my husband, who does not like any melon, loved it. After that, absolutely nothing came close.

What is the best time at the market/ best purveyor at the markets to buy canteloupe etc. from?

Thanks

[Anna Blume]

Ahhhh! The womenfolk talk about melons different than the menfolk here! Cf. Al Dente on GL.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Sharlyn melon at Balducci for $4. It turned out to be overripe--the flavor was amazing, but the texture was mushy and unpleasant...I got a container out, chopped the frozen melon jus into chunks and threw it back into the Vitamix. Voila! Amazingly refreshing and delicious melon sorbet. Our houseguest got a little brainfreeze, but we all agreed it was the perfect healthy hot weather dessert.

Sounds good and were this a flavorful, overripe melon I might do something similar. I had a friend allergic to just about everything, including anything with gluten, sugar & all dairy products except yogurt. I puréed a cantaloupe, probably reduced the juice somewhat and after mixing it with honey, lemon juice, gelatin and yogurt, molded it in the shape of a lobster and served it w a blueberry sauce (also using honey).

About 2 months ago, I got a $2 canteloupe from Safeway, and it was great. Even my husband, who does not like any melon, loved it. After that, absolutely nothing came close.

What is the best time at the market/ best purveyor at the markets to buy canteloupe etc. from?

Thanks

I've been eating wonderful Athena melons for at least a month now, all from supermarkets. Those are the huge ones that are heavy and more elongated (almost watermelon-shaped); some are pretty local or as I've said, from Southern parts this side of the Rockies. Local vendors have been selling theirs for at least two weeks if not a bit longer, though the ones on Sunday were especially wonderful.

[ol_ironstomach]

Thanks to a serendipitous find at a roadside market in Pennsylvania, I am presently obsessed with French melons.  No, I don't mean Brigitte Bardot í  la 1957, but the Charentais melon and its crosses.  They're small, perhaps the size of a duckpin bowling ball, with a slightly ribbed rind that often shows a bit of residual green in the valleys.  The true Charentais retains its stem and may be smooth or netted, but crosses with common (US) cantaloupe (muskmelon) will show netting and may drop off the stem.

The flesh is deep orange and remarkably fragrant...and the complex flavor will spoil you for ordinary cantaloupes.

Am I right, porcupine?  Since it's a long flight to Cavaillon (and my French sucks) has anybody seen Charentais-variety melons at local farmers markets?

[bookluvingbabe]

I know I have seen them in the past but they aren't a favorite so I can't tell you where.  I can tell you my market circuit in the last few years has been Takoma, Dupont, Bethesda Central, Penn Quarter and Crystal City.  

[porcupine]

The flesh is deep orange and remarkably fragrant...and the complex flavor will spoil you for ordinary cantaloupes.

Am I right, porcupine?

Yes.  I didn't tell you, but I actually don't like cantaloupe.  Never have.  But this melon was extraordinary.  I believe there's an avid gardener here who grows them. 

[lperry]

If you have a small plot of land, or even a large planter, they can be grown here.

Edit;  Cross post.

[ol_ironstomach]

I don't know how these might have been pollinated, but I saved, washed, and dried the seeds anyway.  Chez Stomach has plenty of room in the back forty, and YouTube has a bunch of info on growing melons on black landscaping cloth, or trellised.  Let the games begin...next spring!

[LauraB]

Has anyone had a Flavor Burst melon?  These are tiny, one-serving size melons that I bought for the first time last week from Spring Valley Farm at the Dupont Farmers market.  I really like these a lot -- the flavor seems more concentrated than larger cantaloupes and I like that an entire melon serves one.

This morning, after having already bought 4 of these, I tasted a sample of the large cantalopes at Toigo and, well, it was so good I was forced to buy one.