July – October
This time of year (summertime) a sweet aroma is an indication of a good melon. Don’t always expect them to always be ripe, so ask your produce person to help you find the perfect one. The ripest melons are ready to eat within a day or two and not hold up much longer than that so use them right away. If you are a weekly shopper pick firm melons and ripen them at home. Then when it reaches the stage of ripeness that you prefer, you can cut it and enjoy it. Remember, a melon will not develop any further sugar after it has been picked.
If you find yourself with an overripe melon it at home because you either forgot about it or just didn’t get to it, don’t fear! Here’s a fantastic recipe for Agua Fresco.
Variety Melons peak season is July – October. Other times of the year they come from Mexico and Central America and they are usually picked green and never get to the stage of full ripeness, therefore denying anyone that may be trying a melon for the first time the real experience of a truly ripened melon. So, if you have tried them in the winter and your experience was nothing more than a crunchy mildly sweet cucumber, then I would urge you to try one NOW, when the real season is upon us. Your experience will be dramatically different.
Common Melon Varieties include:
Orange Fleshed Honeydew (orange flesh)
Sharlyn (light green – white flesh)
Santa Clause Frogskin (white flesh)
Persian (salmon colored flesh)
Galia (green flesh)
Casaba white (white-light green flesh)
Crenshaw (salmon colored flesh)
Canary (light green with mild salmon color close to seed cavity)
Hami
Other varieties like Ambrosia (light salmon flesh), Cavaillon (deep salmon), Charatais (deep salmon), Crane (light salmon) etc. come in as specialty melons and are well worth a try but won’t be found in all stores.
Video: https://youtu.be/eFNHffAxYAE
