Melon Patch

There are four basic attributes I look for in a good melon: flavor, sugar content, juice, and aroma. I have distinct preferences among the varieties of melon, but the best variety in the world isn't going to be worth a nickel if it isn't ripe. Here's where you need to use common sense - and all your senses. Different varieties offer different clues for ripeness, but in general, you want to look for good color, good smell, and a little give to the melon - not soft but not brick hard.

Honeydew

"Friends are like melons - to find a good one you must a hundred try!!"

After cantaloupes and watermelons, probably the most familiar melons to Americans are honeydews. The rind is very smooth, greenish white to yellow in color, and the flesh is a cool lime green. An unripe honeydew is terrible, but a ripe one is probably the sweetest melon of all - and the prettiest. Honeydew is definitely one of my favorite melons. All too often it's difficult to find a ripe honeydew, but it's not difficult to pick out a ripe one. The rind will develop a golden color and will actually become sticky outside. Never be afraid of a honeydew that has developed a bit of brown freckling on the rind - that's where it's tacky with sugar. The other clue to a ripe honeydew is a sweet, heady aroma. People tend to check the stem end of the melon to see if it's soft, but that's not going to tell you a thing. Good aroma, color, freckles, and a sticky feel are the telltale signs of a sweet honeydew. In season, honeydews from California are the best. Unless you live in California, however, a ripe honeydew before August or after October is as rare as a blue moon. Because ripe ones are fragile and hard to ship, 99 percent of those you see most of the year have been picked green, and they'll never ripen. From August through October, however, a new crop of honeydews is ripening in California, and they become ready so quickly the growers can't pick them fast enough. Lucky for you, because most of the honeydews end up staying on the vine until they're ripe and full of sugar. Start looking in August, and you'll rarely be disappointed

Crenshaw Melon

Another smooth-skinned melon and another favorite of mine, the Crenshaw is a very large melon with a green rind speckled golden-the more golden the color, the riper it is. Crenshaws have dense, golden-orange flesh and a smaller seed pocket than a honeydew. You will get more yield out of a Crenshaw than out of a honeydew the same size. Usually picked vine ripe the Crenshaw is an excellent melon-sweet and juicy. The peak season is almost the same as for the honeydew but a little longer-from July through December. There are two varieties: the golden Crenshaw from California, and a white variety grown in various states as well as in Chile and parts of Europe. I think the golden variety is the best. If it's not ripe, a Crenshaw will taste like squash, but unlike the honeydew, a firm Crenshaw will ripen at room temperature, provided it's not grass green. If it has a little break of yellow on the rind, leave it out until the speckling on the rind turns a deep golden bronze color. Because Crenshaws may weigh up to ten pounds, most farm stands and many supermarkets sell it cut. Even if the flesh is a good orange color, the melon may not be mature, so if you want to buy a half, turn it over and look at the rind: it should be a golden bronze color. It it's not, it won't be sweet. As a rule, however, Crenshaws are picked ripe and they're very sweet. They're also expensive. When I was a kid, my father used to buy rejects that showed a few spots of mold. A little mold on a Crenshaw (unlike other melons) won't penetrate the flesh or affect the taste-just cut the spot off. My mother used to station herself at the fruit stand with a pile of spotted Crenshaws, cutting them and giving the customers a taste. We sold hundreds and hundreds of Crenshaws that way. It you can find one that's been marked down because it has a little spot of mold on it, grab it.

Galia Melon

Sharlyn Melon

Preparing Melons