It's Day 5 of our new series: 5 Days of Fruit. Hope you've enjoyed this week's posts so far! Today's is all about melons, specifically: watermelons, cantaloupes, and honeydew melons.
Watermelons
- Selection: Choose a melon that's free of bruises, discolorations, bumps, dirt or whatever else makes it seem undesirable to you. (Bumps often indicate the fruit has been dropped which likely means part of the flesh inside has been affected.)Select a watermelon that's medium to light green but not yellowing, with several spots of light green on it. Also look for a large yellow-white spots. Tap the watermelon lightly several times. If it is not ripe enough, it will sound solid. If it is too ripe, it will sound thick. The perfect watermelon is the one that resonates hollow. The surface should not feel soft - you should not be able to mash it. This indicates the melon is overripe - a side effect of too much refrigeration or general bad condition.
- Storage: Store uncut watermelon at 55 degrees or above. Whole melons will keep for two weeks at 60 degrees, 7 to 10 days at average room temperature and up to a week in hot weather. Place room-temperature melon in the refrigerator to cool it down before eating. It stores best fairly warm but tastes most refreshing cool so if you'd like to store it in the FRIDGE, wash outside of melon, pat dry, cut melon & then cover the cut surface of leftover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. You can use covered containers for smaller chunks of melon. Use within two days. If you want to FREEZE it cut the melon into slices, wedges or cubes (remove seeds and rind). Spread pieces in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze until firm. Transfer firm pieces to freezer containers or bags. Leave a tiny bit of room for expansion during freezing. Thaw frozen melons in the refrigerator before use. Use within four days of thawing. Will keep in freezer for 3-4 months.
- Tip: Remember that watermelon ripens over time, even off of the vine. Therefore, when you have found the perfect watermelon make sure you serve it within a day or two of buying it.
- Fun fact: Watermelon is 92% water - perfect for hot summer days!!
Cantaloupes
- Selection: The general tips above work for cantaloupe, too, but also keep in mind the smell. This is a very fragrant fruit - take a deep smell of the stem end with your nose a few inches away. If the melon smells so good that you want to cut it open and sink a spoon into it, it is ready for you to take it home.
- Storage: If possible, keep freshly cut cantaloupe in the crisper. Cantaloupe prefers 95-100% humidity so the crisper will help keep it longer. If you bought the melon at the grocery then you likely only have about 5 days; however, if you got the melon directly from a farm then it'll likely hold for about 5-15 days.
- Tip: If it is early in the season, you may need to compare several melons to pick the ripest one of the bunch. If the smell isn't quite 'ready', let your melon sit on a kitchen towel (to keep it from bruising) on the counter for a day or two.
Honeydew Melons
- Selection: To ensure that you pick the right melon choose one that has no soft spots. Hold it at both ends and give it a couple of shakes from side to side (not stem to stem.) If you can hear the shaking of the seeds inside it is ready for you to take it home.
- Slicing: These guidelines work for most all melons - slice off both ends just enough to expose the flesh. Stand melon on an end and cut in half lengthwise. For larger melons you may want to cut each half in half again. Slice into thick or thin pieces.
- Tip: It's possible the farm harvested the melons too early for the fruit to develop correctly so never choose a melon that has no seed shake at all thinking that it will ripen for you.
Miss a post? Catch up for the week:
Monday: Tropical Fruit
Tuesday: Orchard Fruit
Wednesday: Berries
Thursday: Citrus Fruit
Friday: Melons (above)
0 comments:
Post a Comment