I have only recently begun growing Cucumis melo var. cantalupensis. A good cantaloupe delights me and monster #2. We sit an munch away at breakfast while monster #1 prattles on about pokemon or some such rot. The smell alone, the musk, can set my mouth to watering. The chickens too feel this and come running when I emerge with rinds or better yet the seeds and juices.
But a good cantaloupe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqwmDNPegnM&feature=related and a bad cantaloupe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL_0_0w30bk, or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMYZ0npFqaA&feature=related can be hard to tell apart until you crack it open — or start the video.
In the supermarket, I always tap to make sure it sounds hollow, then I smell the blossom end (as opposed to the stem end). It should smell musky, but not too much. Too musky suggests that the melon has gone mushy.
But how to tell when they’re hiding.
Yes there are melons in there.
I used to avoid growing cantaloupes as I felt they required too long a season, but lately I’ve foudn seeds planted in early June give me great melons in late August and early September. Nevertheless, I don’t have a pile of two for one melon to choose from. Usually one or two look just about right. The stem should give with just a bit of force, the flesh in the grooves should have started to yellow a bit on the soil side. Tapping should produce a hollow sound.
Finally I picked one. It didn’t want to come off the vine, which should have given me pause. But I was impatient.
I did not break the knife on the melon — it’s one of those fancy kyocera knives. An unnamed member of the family executive branch (actually the only member of this branch) broke it trying to cut a butternut squash. But woe is I! This melon was not ripe — the tissue around the seeds is still far too solid and the green rind is too thick.
Woe is not the chickens however, they loved it.
Two days later I found another melon that came off the vine with just a little pressure. It was lovely and sweet and crisp. That was probably the part that surprised me most. It didn’t feel like a supermarket melon, because it crunched, but it was just as sweet.
I’ll give it just a few more days for the next one.
The chickens loved the rinds just as much, but they were disappointed that I didn’t give them the whole melon (tasteless link warning).
