FreshPoint

Description:

When a melon is ripe, we mean truly vine-ripe, nothing can beat its sweet, juicy, complex flavor. The problem is that commercial growers, in their attempt to provide melons to the consumer 365 days a year, have lowered the cook’ s expectations. The cantaloupe and honeydew have been relegated to salad bar and drop-a-slice-on-a-leaf-of-kale-and-you’ ve-got-your-garnish status for most of the year. Leave it to one of our favorite growers to single-handedly resurrect a host of heirloom melon varieties. Weiser Family Farms’ first harvest has yielded wonderfully flavorful, vine-ripe heirloom melons. They have staggered their plantings in order to supply us with at least two, and up to six, different heirloom melons through early October. The first two varieties harvested were Butterscotch and Ha’ Ogen. When tested by our refractometer, the Butterscotch came in at a very respectable 15% sugar, and the Ha’ Ogen ran a whopping 17%! The other heirloom varieties will be, in order of appearance: Sugar Queen, Eden’ s Gem (Cantaloupe-looking exterior with bright green flesh), Charentais, Ananas, Banana, Prescott Fond Blanc, Spanish, White Crenshaw, and Piel de Sapo. Many of these varieties are quite small, and are perfect for individual servings. Imagine a halved Butterscotch melon, cleaned of its seeds, the resulting cavity graced with red port, creme de cassis or even a sweet white wine like Monbasillac. You have just imagined the perfect summer dessert…sophisticated, light and featuring the fruit of a California family farm.