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Melon Ballers


Chris Hennes

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I own a melon baller, but I must admit, not only have I never used it for its designed purpose, but I never intended to when I bought it. I think they are particularly handy for fishing olives and cherries out of narrow-mouthed, liquid-filled jars, especially when the jar is down to it's last few denizens. Are there any other great uses for this gadget? Does anyone actually use theirs to make little balls of melon?

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

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I actually have a couple of melon ballers in varying sizes-but I don't use them on melons. I use my melon ballers to make potato balls.

Just boil a Russet potato until tender. Let the potato cool, then peel off the skin. Cut-out potato balls using the melon baller. Then fry the little potato balls in butter. Delicious in the fall or winter with roasted meats.

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I use mine to core pears, use the smallest to hull strawberries.

I do make melon balls, papaya, and similar fruits. Also firm, not crumbly cheeses (the smallest one).

Make butter curls when the butter is just out of the freezer.

Ditto chocolate curls, etc.

I also use them to make balls from winter squash, especially butternut and banana or Hubbard.

(Although they do need to be sharpened after this exercise.)

It works brilliantly to remove the seeds from cucumbers, from zucchini and similar-shaped squash.

I have several, ranging from 1/2 inch diameter to 1 1/2 inch. Some are very old, some are fairly new.

The newest are from Fantes.com I bought the set shown about half-way down the page.

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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I use my melon ballers to make potato balls.

I knew I wasn't alone. Although, I never thought to boil them first -- that would make it a lot easier to scoop through the flesh.

Similarly, I use the apple corer on raw potatoes after I make thick slices. The result is potato cylinders of uniform length.

Peter Gamble aka "Peter the eater"

I just made a cornish game hen with chestnut stuffing. . .

Would you believe a pigeon stuffed with spam? . . .

Would you believe a rat filled with cough drops?

Moe Sizlack

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shape rum balls and truffles

portion dough for party-size cookies

I used to use mine for these two tasks until I got a couple of the teaspoon-sized scoops like these. Much easier to get the dough or filling to release.

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Little tiny scoops of gelato that will fit in the mouth of a Champagne flute for Moscato d'Asti floats. :wub:

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

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I love using them for coring out the purplish part of artichokes in preparation for making stuffed artichokes.

You have to cut off the top third of the artichoke first though. :)

Edited by Herf (log)
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I use it for melon balls (the kids love them) and plan to use them as tiny ice cream scoop for a dessert idea I have. You can also make nice butter balls.

Have not found any other uses, but haven't looked for any either

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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  • 5 years later...

None of you seem to mention brands.  That would be somewhat helpful [/sarcasm].  In the middle of a project I ordered WMF.  We shall see how well it works.

 

I used to have a melon baller, maybe forty years ago.  That does not help me now.

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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I just dug my melon-baller out of the very back of the utensil drawer to use for seeding hot peppers. I hate using gloves in the kitchen, and I hate Fiery Finger Syndrome, so thanks so much for that idea!

 

I'm also going to try my ice cream scoop next time I make drop biscuits, and keep an eye out for smaller scoops for drop cookies.

 

I love e-gullet for ideas like this. It has helped me so much to save time and money over the years. :wub:  

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> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I made biscuits for dinner tonight, so I thought I'd follow up on the results I got from tips in this thread.

 

First I turned the suggestions for using melon ballers, and then mini scoops from JAZ in post 13 to scoop out drop cookie dough into using my ice cream scoop for drop biscuits. This worked smashingly!

 

I packed the scoop with the dough with a silcone spatula, and dropped them onto the baking sheet in mounds. It was still a little fiddly, having to use the release lever a couple or three times on occasion, but much faster than using a silicone spatula and knife as I had been. Then i flattened and spread the mounds slightly with the spatula and my fingers. And BONUS, the biscuits came out looking a lot more like cut out biscuits and rose higher. Yay, this is my goto method from now on.

 

Second, please don't follow Mex Chef's suggestion in post 13 to seed hot peppers with a melon baller if you don't wear glasses for close work. The dull edge of the melon baller causes a lot more pepper juice to spray up from the work surface than a sharp knife.

 

Believe me folks, when I say, fiery finger is preferable to fiery EYE!  :laugh:

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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