Cantaloupe is the chameleon of summer season fruit. It’s so candy-candy that it will create for a lightweight dessert on its like (although lest we no longer neglect cantaloupe bowls). Yet its syrupy attribute moreover offers it the vitality to counter salty elements—the classic Italian pairing of prosciutto and cantaloupe is the overall proof it is seemingly you’ll perchance well perchance perchance like that opposites attract. So disappear ahead and turn cantaloupe into salads, grate it into a marinade for grilled meat, or pile it with a bacon-cashew disintegrate.
But for all of this melon’s deliciousness, there’s accurate one microscopic anguish: It can perchance well perchance moreover moreover be exhausting to make a choice a beautifully candy cantaloupe. In disagreement to berries, which demonstrate their ripeness to the bare look, and stone fruit that asks nothing bigger than for you to press on it as a trademark, cantaloupe likes to play exhausting to catch. You’re left to merely pick out one at the grocery store or farmers market, bet if it’s ripe, and withhold your breath when you minimize into it.
But there’s a greater option. Right here’s the easiest advance to make a choice the very easiest cantaloupe:
Straightforward methods to say if a cantaloupe is ripe
When selecting methods on how to make a choice essentially the most easy melon, there are four issues to own in thoughts:
In point of fact feel: A ripe, candy cantaloupe ought to mute in actuality feel heavy for its dimension and the webbing on its rind ought to mute be thick. It’ll mute be reasonably firm when pressed, although no longer as firm as a watermelon. As a substitute, the surface ought to mute give a little bit of when you gently press the stem discontinue and its reverse discontinue, moreover identified because the blossom discontinue, with your thumbs. Alternatively, if there are any mute spots or if it’s mute when pressed, that is a trademark that the cantaloupe is overripe.
Colour: Be conscious for a lightweight golden hue between a cantaloupe’s webbing. A ripe melon ought to mute feature shades of beige: tan, sandy, and/or pale yellowish tones. Green plan it’s no longer ripe ample.
Sound: Give the cantaloupe a lightweight knock. Hear for a low, deep, heavy sound. While you hear a hole sound, withhold off—it’s no longer ripe.
Smell: Take a whiff of the blossom discontinue. A juicy cantaloupe ought to mute smell candy and own a faintly musky scent. No scent signifies it’s unripe, while a fermented smell plan it’s overripe.
Will cantaloupe proceed to ripen after it’s been picked?
Unfortunately, no longer in actuality. While other fruits fancy bananas and peaches defend on ripening after you’ve brought them dwelling, melons don’t proceed to ripen famous after they’ve been picked. While you bring an unripe cantaloupe dwelling and let it sit down on the counter or in a paper get at room temperature for a pair of days, the flesh will soften, but it will never be as candy and juicy as a cantaloupe picked at high ripeness.
Straightforward methods to store a cantaloupe
While you watched the cantaloupe you brought dwelling isn’t ripe, strive leaving it on the counter at room temperature for a day or two. As mentioned above, it’s sadly no longer a foolproof solution, because the melon obtained’t catch any sweeter, but it will in the end serve create it a little softer. Store uncut ripe cantaloupe within the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Once minimize, store it in an airtight container within the refrigerator for up to a pair days.
What to realize when you minimize originate an unripe cantaloupe
Happily, no longer all is lost when you procure your self with an underripe cantaloupe. Blend it into agua fresca, adding a little honey or agave nectar to model if wished, and use it in smoothies with other ripe fruit. It’s moreover spectacular pickled and tossed in a salad or on a cheese board. Or turn it into essentially the most surprising jam, which is in a sing to remind you of sunny summer season days lengthy after they’re long past.
Salty and candy, crunchy and juicy, this throw-it-collectively summer season aspect has it all.
Sheela Prakash is a meals and wine writer, and the author of ‘Salad Seasons’ and ‘Mediterranean Each and each Day.’ Her favourite advance to eat cantaloupe is with prosciutto, white wine, and summer season sunshine.
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