Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
at farmers' markets. Supermarket produce managers tend to regard them as imperfections
and wash them off.
So now you know how you choose a mature melon, but remember that there is a dif-
ference between ripeness and maturity. Melons continue to ripen after picking - the flesh
softens, and the aromas and flavors become more intense - but they don't get any sweeter.
This softening is usually most evident at the blossom end of the fruit. Press gently: if there
is a little give, the melon is ripe; if you have a melon that still feels very firm, leave it at
room temperature for a couple of days.
So much for the Cucumis melons. The elephant in the room that hasn't been discussed
is the watermelon, perhaps the most popular melon of all - at least in the United States.
Watermelons belong to a different branch of the Cucurbit family: Citrullus. Their closest
relative is the bitter apple, a small, hard fruit that can be poisonous in moderate doses. It
used to be that all watermelons were red, had seeds and were gargantuan in size. But there
has been a virtual arms race in watermelon breeding over the past several years, and now
we have watermelons that are yellow, watermelons that have no seeds (actually, they do,
but they're few and underdeveloped) and watermelons that are built for two rather than
two hundred. Recently, breeders have even come up with watermelons that are the perfect
shape and size to fit in a refrigerator.
You select all of them the same way, which is pretty much the way you choose a
smooth-skinned melon. Check the couche, which should be well developed, and check
the skin, which should have a slightly waxy quality. If you have a good ear, you can try
the thump test, too. This is the traditional way to choose a watermelon, but I think it's the
hardest to get right. Rap the melon near the center with your knuckles. With a ripe melon,
there will be a certain resonance: it will sound like knocking on a hollow-core door.
WHERE THEY'RE GROWN: Roughly two thirds of the spring harvest of canta-
loupes is pretty evenly divided between Arizona and California, with Georgia and Texas
chipping in the rest. Spring honeydews come mostly from California, with some from
