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Food: Days of melon
When it comes to quality Cucurbitaceae, seek and ye shall rind...

by Pat Fusco

Melons were as much a part of childhood summers as chigger bites and the smell of Coppertone. They were cheap and sweet, a dime each when purchased from farmers' trucks—even free when someone in the neighborhood grew too many and gave them away. Kids in bathing suits had watermelon parties on hot afternoons, gobbling juicy slices and competing in seed-spitting contests before mothers washed everybody down with spray from a hose. When we went for picnics in the woods, a big watermelon was placed at the waterline in the creek to stay cool until dessert time. Other melons—cantaloupes, honeydews and the like (some called "mushmelons" by old-timers) were table food, served at breakfast, dinner and supper. A favorite light evening meal was made from pan-fried country ham slices with biscuits and crescents of orange-fleshed cantaloupe.

Nowadays we have melons year-round. This is not necessarily a good thing, since fragrance and flavor decline when they're too long off the vine, or too far away from their fields. I cringe at ubiquitous garnishes on restaurant plates: hard, cold cubes of cantaloupe and bits of dry, tasteless watermelon with a few grapes. It's a travesty. I wait until high summer to buy any melon and eat it at its peak.

There are more than 1,200 varieties of watermelon in the world—with tones of red, orange and yellow. Thirst-quenching and cooling, it has another recently discovered attribute: citrulline, especially in its rind, acts as a stimulus to relax and expand blood vessels, much like Viagra! (Who knew?) Round, smooth-skinned melons were cultivated in Persia and North Africa 4,000 years ago and they have appeared in art and sculpture and dining ever since.

Now is the perfect time to look for prime examples. A saying from my grandmother's day about choosing a ripe melon by "thumping it" proves to be absolutely true: "If it goes pank, it's still green; if it goes punk, it's ripe." Look for a yellowish area on the skin where the melon lay on the ground; a whitish hue means it isn't ready. With other melons, use your nose—there should be a detectable sweet rich smell—and your fingers: trace well formed "netting" on cantaloupes; on all of them test the spot at the stem end to see that it is smooth and has a bit of give to it (the stem end should not be green). Honeydews and light, smooth-skinned melons should feel slightly tacky.

Whatever you do, plan to search for Crane melons that arrive late in the season. Developed by Oliver Crane of Sonoma in the early 1900s, they're a cross that includes Japanese, Persian, ambrosia and a white variety; they're highly aromatic with a light orange flesh. This California specialty was once (literally) guarded to prevent theft of its seeds so the Cranes could maintain their exclusivity. The melons can be found in farmers' markets and a few independent shops as well as at the Crane Family Melon Barn near Santa Rosa, very late summer and early fall.

The recipes that follow show how versatile melons can be on summer menus. While there's nothing wrong with sliced or cubed plain fruits, or "spiking" a watermelon by cutting a plug and filling it with Champagne or vodka, these dishes show that savory works for them as well as sweet, and they can be used throughout a meal in interesting ways.

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Sandia y Jalapeno

Serves 8 to 10

A melon salsa is vibrant with Latin foods, a nice surprise topping on tacos and quesadillas; it partners well with guacamole and chips. It's great with grilled meats, fish or poultry; try adding it to a simple cold soup for a zingy touch.

4 cups diced, seeded watermelon cubes

1 cup diced, seeded cantaloupe cubes

2 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon each turbinado (raw) sugar and ancho chile powder

1 tablespoon each chopped cilantro and chopped basil

Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.

Note: If you are interested in taking this on a picnic, put it in a 2-gallon bag and lay it across the top of the stuff in the ice chest so it doesn't get all mushed.—adapted from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea (Potter, 2008) by Martha Hall Foose

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Insalata di Cantalupo

Serves 2

This recipe is Italian and is a combination of two key harvests of summer, figs and melons. When you make the salad, you are advised to "use only flawless components and arrange them for someone wonderful with whom to rhapsodize over it."

4 to 6 plump, ripe green or purple figs

1 small, very ripe cantaloupe or other orange-fleshed melon

1 generous handful of fresh mint leaves

2 tablespoons finest extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons just-squeezed lemon juice

Halve the figs vertically, not peeling them, and lay them, in some pattern that pleases you, on two large plates. Halve the melon horizontally, removing its rind and seeds, carving each half into 1/4-inch slices and laying these on the plates. Tear the mint leaves and strew the fruit with them. Drop the oil in tears over the figs, and the lemon juice over the melon. Serve the salads with iced moscato or any fine, ambered sweet wine.—from Regional Foods of Southern Italy (Viking, 1999) by Marlena de Blasi

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Summer Melons in Sweet Spiced Wine

Serves 6

Here is a dish that depends on sweet wine. I successfully used Essensia, from Quady, made near Reedley, from orange Muscat grapes that give it a haunting flavor perfect with desserts (especially chocolate, nuts and stone fruits). For a lighter drink, it can be added to sparkling water, a dessert spritzer.

1 orange

1-1/2 cups late-harvest dessert wine, such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat or Sauternes

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

4 slices fresh ginger, cut 1/4-inch long

5 pounds assorted melons, such as cantaloupe, honeydew, Crenshaw, casaba and Persian

Peel the orange with a vegetable peeler, making sure there is no white pith on the back of the peel. Juice the orange. Bring the orange juice, orange peel, wine, honey, vanilla bean and ginger to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the orange peel, vanilla bean and ginger, and discard. Let cool for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, using a melon baller, form balls of melon and place in a large glass bowl. Pour the orange-infused wine over the melon and let sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour, until the melon is chilled.

To serve, ladle the melon into bowls and pour the sauce over the melon.

To drink: Serve the same wine you used in the recipe.—from Wine Country Cooking (Ten Speed Press, 1999) by Joanne Weir

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Watermelon Margaritas

Makes one large pitcher

If you would rather imbibe your melon, try this summer specialty from the Southwest, flavored with natural sweetness.

1 4-pound piece seedless watermelon

2-1/2 cups good-quality silver tequila

1/4 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur

1 cup fresh lime juice

Lots of crushed ice

Trim rind from watermelon and slice fruit into 2-inch cubes. You should have about 8 cups. Place watermelon in blender and puree until smooth. Combine watermelon juice, tequila, Cointreau and lime juice in pitcher or jug with plenty of ice. Stir well.—from Cowgirl Cuisine: Rustic Recipes and Cowgirl Adventures from a Texas Ranch (Morrow, 2007) by Paula Disbrowe

Contact Pat at patfusco@sonic.net

Posted by Zoomie, a resident of the Marinwood neighborhood, on Jul 16, 2009 at 5:32 pm

Don't forget granita made from melons - cool, fresh and low in calories, high in flavor!

Posted by Jude Lutge, a resident of another community, on Jul 16, 2009 at 8:09 pm

mmmm nice recipes, love the sketches of your childhood.