Melon

[GlorifiedRice]

What are your top 3 faves?

Mine:

1) Crenshaw

2) Watermelon

3) Honeydew

I can seriously go through 2 seedless watermelons a week.

I cut one into chunks and frigerate it and snack all day...

Crenshaws are so sweet and perfect. YUMMY

And less then ripe honeydews are great with sugar and lime powder!

[Malkavian]

Honeydew, Cantaloupe, watermelon. Mundane, but there's what i grew up with, so...

Garden grown watermelon can't be beat.

Edited July 25, 2007 by Malkavian (log)

[andiesenji]

Speaking of melons, I found this (somewhat risque) melon a few days ago on a vine growing out of one of the compost bins.

I am quite sure it is a Galia, pale green to white flesh, very sweet and very juicy, tiny flat seeds and great aroma. It was quite large for a Galia but was the only melon on that vine.

[merstar]

Honeydews

Crenshaws

California cantaloupes (although I haven't been able to find a good, sweet one since 2005)

[Pierogi]

ALL of them, sorry can't limit it to just 3. Although watermelon would be towards the bottom. I tend to like the hollow melons more, but I sure don't turn down dead-ripe watermelon if offered. But cantaloupe, casava, honeydew, Galia, Sharilynn (sp??), Crenshaw, Santa Claus, if its a melon, and its RIPE, I love it.

Key word there, ripe.

[Prawncrackers]

  Sharilynn (sp??)

Key word there, ripe.

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Do you mean Charentais melons from France? They are very nice. Those, Galia and Watermelons are my faves. As long as they're ripe... but not as nice as mangoes at any rate.....

[Kouign Aman]

Andie, thats some picture!

Sharlyn.

Is there a second place?

[andiesenji]

Andie, thats some picture!

Sharlyn.

Is there a second place?

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This was an interesting melon. When I used to grow gourds, certain varieties would assume this shape (and also a "chesty" shape- very popular with gourd artists) because of "twinned" blossoms, that is, a double blossom on one stem, fused at the base.

I tried to get a clear photo showing the blossom end of this melon which had 3 blossom scars. Unfortunately, the melon had rested on the blossom end and it did not photograph well because it was slightly flattened.

I have marked the blossom scars - the "netting" raidiates out from each one, overlapping in places.

I have grown a lot of melons over the years and had never had one develop fully from a twinned set of blossoms, usually they drop off.

[Kent D]

1. watermelon - sugar baby

2. watermelon - black diamond

3. watermelon - rattlesnake

Other than that, I don't care for melons of any sort. Cantalope made me gag as a child and I've never been able to get past the smell. Honeydew's the only other I've tried, and I didn't like it either. But I can eat watermelon all summer long, if it's fresh and local.

[Pierogi]

[Do you mean Charentais melons from France?  They are very nice.

No, I've never seen a Charentais around my neck of the woods, but I'd jump on it in a New York minute if I did, I hear they're divine.

Correct spelling is Sharlyn. Pale flesh, almost ivory, although the outside almost looks like a cantoloupe. Longer though, not as round.

Also love Persians. Forgot them.

[JasonTrue]

I was thrilled by the hybrid "temptation" a couple weeks ago at Sosio's in Seattle. It's an orange-fleshed honeydew, or a smooth-fleshed canteloupe.

It was incredibly sweet and aromatic.

When I find a good one, I like the so-called Tuscan melons. They only seem to be great in the summer, but the ones I found last summer unfortunately generally disappointing.

[sazji]

I can give two faves here. Though I don't know English names for them, I think at least one of them exists in the US as well. My all-time favorite one is one called "Bilecik" (bill-eh-jik), after the town and surrounding region where it is grown. I've seen pictures of a similar melon called "canary" but they tend to be small. These are big melons, 8-10 pounds sometimes. Here's a picture of a fairly small one (I have trouble getting the large ones into my rather small refrigerator!) They are very sweet and fragrant, but with a hint of crispness like a crenshaw as well.

Another one is known here as "bal kavunu," or "honey melon." They can be round or oblong, with orange-fading-to-green flesh. The flesh is very smooth. It's my second choice but not as uniformly good as the Bilecik type.

Very late in the season another one comes out called "Ankara" melon; it's similar to the bal kavunu but is always oblong and has some striations. It is very sweet and juicy, sometimes a bit too soft for my liking but still good. It keeps very well and is available on the market well into the winter.

I also have a sort of "Holy Grail" melon - back in 1975 I ate a melon in the Peloponnese in S. Greece that I still can't forget. It was very long and narrow, with a smooth yellow skin and pink-orange flesh. It had an amazing fragrance with a hint of banana. I've asked about it several times and nobody knows it, but people in Turkey talk about one that was once grown and sold in Thrace which is no longer available that sounds similar.

Edited August 28, 2007 by sazji (log)

[Ktepi]

Persian melon is the sexiest fruit I've eaten. That's my #1. #2 would be Crenshaws in Indiana -- the ones they have at the supermarket here aren't so great, and I haven't seen them from local farms, so maybe they don't grow well in New England.

I've been disappointed with watermelon this year -- it doesn't seem possible to find non-seedless anymore! The supermarket only has seeded melon in the form of those expensive mini-melons (with rind too thin for pickling), and my local farmstand only has seedless and then bowling-ball-sized seeded hybrids. The latter have been good, but they're so sweet and so watery that there's not much actual flavor. I miss that deep red watermelon flavor that reminds you where the Wacky Wafer people got their inspiration.

In general, I'm pretty happy with any muskmelon/netted melon.

[Adam Balic]

I also have a sort of "Holy Grail" melon - back in 1975 I ate a melon in the Peloponnese in S. Greece that I still can't forget. It was very long and narrow, with a smooth yellow skin and pink-orange flesh. It had an amazing fragrance with a hint of banana. I've asked about it several times and nobody knows it, but people in Turkey talk about one that was once grown and sold in Thrace which is no longer available that sounds similar.

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One of these?

[sazji]

Similar! Maybe not quite so narrow but close. Of course without tasting it it would be hard to say. Now I'll have to try growing it!

[Lutece]

I can give two faves here. Though I don't know English names for them, I think at least one of them exists in the US as well.  My all-time favorite one is one called "Bilecik" (bill-eh-jik), after the town and surrounding region where it is grown. I've seen pictures of a similar melon called "canary" but they tend to be small. These are big melons, 8-10 pounds sometimes. Here's a picture of a fairly small one (I have trouble getting the large ones into my rather small refrigerator!)  They are very sweet and fragrant, but with a hint of crispness like a crenshaw as well.

Another one is known here as "bal kavunu," or "honey melon." They can be round or oblong, with orange-fading-to-green flesh. The flesh is very smooth. It's my second choice but not as uniformly good as the Bilecik type.

Very late in the season another one comes out called "Ankara" melon; it's similar to the bal kavunu but is always oblong and has some striations. It is very sweet and juicy, sometimes a bit too soft for my liking but still good. It keeps very well and is available on the market well into the winter.

I also have a sort of "Holy Grail" melon - back in 1975 I ate a melon in the Peloponnese in S. Greece that I still can't forget. It was very long and narrow, with a smooth yellow skin and pink-orange flesh. It had an amazing fragrance with a hint of banana. I've asked about it several times and nobody knows it, but people in Turkey talk about one that was once grown and sold in Thrace which is no longer available that sounds similar.

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In the summer look for 'orange flesh melon"

The most beautiful thing on earth!