Cantaloupes are at the very top of my “favorite fruits” list. At their best, they are intensely sweet and refreshing, not too hard, not too soft or mushy. I love eating them chilled, and can eat almost an entire cantaloupe in a single sitting.
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.
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.
1. Look at the stem end of the cantaloupe. That tells you how ripe the cantaloupe was when it was picked. Like belly buttons, cantaloupes have “innies” and “outies”. An “innie” shows that the cantaloupe ripened mostly on the vine and was picked at the right time. An “outie” shows that the cantaloupe was picked too early, and did not ripen on the vine. “Outies” are generally the cantaloupes that disappoint because once off the vine, they don’t ripen as well as “innies”. So only look at cantaloupes that have “innies”.
2. Look at the color. All cantaloupes have what looks almost like a beige “netting” over the entire fruit. Look at the color under the beige. You want that color to be a pale yellowish-orange. That means it’s ripe. If it’s dark green, it’s not ripe. While a cantaloupe that has dark green color and an “innie” is not ready to eat now, it will likely ripen to a perfect cantaloupe in a few days.
3. Smell the stem end for sweetness. A ripe cantaloupe will have a sweet, cantaloupe-smell that’s not too strong when it’s ready to eat. A strong cantaloupe-smell means that the cantaloupe is over-ripe and will likely be mushy. A cantaloupe with an “innie” and no smell is not ready to eat now, and will ripen in a few days.
4. Firmness. While all cantaloupes are generally firm, a ripe cantaloupe will have a little “give”, while an unripe cantaloupe will be hard.
As long as you pick a cantaloupe with an “innie”, you should be fine. If it’s green, hard, and/or has not smell, that only means that it’s not ready to eat yet. And if you wait a few days or so until it softens slightly, has a yellowish-orange color, and a sweet smell at the stem end, you will enjoy cantaloupe perfection.
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