My Grandmother always kept fresh cantaloupe cut up in her fridge, and each piece I ate was as sweet and flavorful as the last and the next. Perfection in each and every bite, time after time, year after year!
I tried to achieve that perfection myself by buying cantaloupes that were cut in half so that I could see the flesh, because otherwise I didn’t know how to tell if it’s ripe from the outside. I thought that the bright fleshy-orange color was the key to a good cantaloupe. But the flavor and sweetness was never consistent, and finding a good cantaloupe was always hit-or-miss. I was always disappointed when I found what looked like a perfect cantaloupe, only to bite into watery, flavorless flesh that was tasteless and not sweet at all.
I finally asked my Grandmother how she found the absolute very best cantaloupes each and every time. And here’s what she told me.