Is that canteloupe ripe?

I'm a pretty good judge of telling the ripeness of the fresh fruits and vegies that I buy. Things like peaches, plums, avocados, pears, etc., are pretty easy to read most of the time. But I have trouble with canteloupes. Too often I've cut into one only to find the flesh still hard, and obviously in need of a little more shelf time before it's ready for primetime consumption. Does anyone have any tips on this or any other produce that they find tricky to read?

Smell its belly button - it should smell beautiful and canteloup-y - an odorless melon is a tasteless melon. It should give a tiny bit at the belly button if poked there. A slight orange tinge under the "webbing" is a good sign as well.

What's a good way to test navel oranges? I hate getting the ones that are all dry and stringy and all you have is that skin in your mouth.

Cogito wrote:I'm a pretty good judge of telling the ripeness of the fresh fruits and vegies that I buy. Things like peaches, plums, avocados, pears, etc., are pretty easy to read most of the time. But I have trouble with canteloupes. Too often I've cut into one only to find the flesh still hard, and obviously in need of a little more shelf time before it's ready for primetime consumption. Does anyone have any tips on this or any other produce that they find tricky to read?

Along with smelling the belly button also shake it. As the melon ripens the seeds loosen and will slosh around. I use both methods all of the time because like a tomato nothing is worse than a mealy melon.

Flip

Pie Lady wrote:What's a good way to test navel oranges? I hate getting the ones that are all dry and stringy and all you have is that skin in your mouth.

I usually feel the oranges when I buy them. A good orange will be heavy because it is full of juice. Whereas one of those pithy, dried out ones will be lighter. I don't think it has anything to do with ripeness, if they come in that way, they will stay like that.
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Cantaloupe -
Smell, and sloshiness, sure. I was also once told that the vine end should have a little give. Are these current ones from Chile also? If they are NOT, then you have very little chance of it being decent. Used to be pretty easy. Buy melons when they are in season, and you'll rarely get a bad one. Melon season is mid to late summer to early fall.

Oranges. Same deal. Cali navels are best when they are in season. Mid winter to mid spring. If you buy a cali navel in August, it WILL be dry and stringy. To get the best of the best, as with all citrus, buy the ones that are heavy for their size. Pick up two oranges that are generally the same size. The heavier one is always the better one (more juice.) Reminds me, I had some really good oranges last week. Time to get more to see if they got any better. I saw my Tony's had them for 49c/lb so maybe the best of the season are starting to come in- (when the market floods when the crops are in, the prices take a nose dive.)

I have a cantaloupe in the fridge I got for 99c. I'm not expecting much at all. July is when I'd expect to start getting STELLAR melons. March, not so much.

Everyone is right, so far

I tend to pick really heavy fruits (oranges, grapefruits, melons). Those that feel heavy for their size are generally juicier and more delicious. Also with oranges sometimes I'll pierce the peel with the corner of my nail, I expect a burst of liquid to spray out (that's the burst they light on fire at the Violet Hour).

seebee wrote: To get the best of the best, as with all citrus, buy the ones that are heavy for their size. Pick up two oranges that are generally the same size. The heavier one is always the better one (more juice.)

Yup, if you see someone weighing an orange in each hand with the concentration of Solomon, it's me or seebee (or someone equally wise).

figmolly wrote:I expect a burst of liquid to spray out (that's the burst they light on fire at the Violet Hour).

That sounds like a birthday drink to me. What might the name of this nifty thing be?

Pie Lady, if you haven't been to the Violet Hour, you should most definitely have a birthday drink there. There are, if I recall, several drinks on the menu where the garnish involves an orange peel that is warmed over a flame over your drink then squeezed and it's spray flamed. A beautiful presentation and even more beautiful drinks.

Hi,

I knew a family in Northbrook that owned a double lot: one for the house and the other was a garden. The Dad was a cantalope purist to the extent he tossed more cantalopes than he ate. These were not store purchased cantalopes, these he grew himself. As much as he loved cantalopes, he found them a fickle crop for his tastes.

I suspect most cantalopes we come upon probably don't meet his standards.

I personally don't like cantalopes very much, though I buy them for others. I do the sniff test. If I smell nothing, it goes back on the pile. If I see green under the creamy webbing, it is likely to be overlooked. If they all look like that and someone just has to have one, then I do a lot of sniffing.

I also find picking a good watermelon hit or miss. I like buying from Baylor, because I have a sense they know their product. I have not been disappointed yet.

Regards,

To be nitpicky, most all of the melons that are labeled as cantaloupe in our grocery stores are actually musk melons.

Watermelon - My dear old dad says that a watermelon with no pronounced yellow side cannot be ripe because it was not allowed to sit in the sun long enough. I somewhat check, but again, I just don't buy waterfruit until June, and stop buying them in October.

Maybe I've been living too far north for too long but the mere thought of a "ripe cantelope" discussion in the middle of March has me slightly confused.

I'll happily skip over cantelope at the grocery store for the next 5 months or so just to get one taste of a perfect, melting, musky, vine-ripened summer melon.

By that time, you'll be hard-pressed to pick a loser. However, your nose should provide you with all the help you need to pick a real winner.

Bridgestone, I totally understand, and adhered to the same exact theory, but Chile is producing some of these fruits NOW that are getting better and better. A few years ago, Chilean grapes were being pimped in the middle of our winter. I tried them - they were so-so. Last year, in the middle of our winter, they were decent. I think they started mass growing stone fruits this year - I've heard they were not that great - but they might start getting better in a few years. The goal, I guess, is stellar fruit year round for parts of the world, and a big boost to the Chilean economy?

Cathy2 wrote:I also find picking a good watermelon hit or miss. I like buying from Baylor, because I have a sense they know their product.

I read the Baylor's thread. They obviously have a pretty serious watermelon operation going, why no phone number? At least during the sales season. I wouldn't want to drive that far to find out they were closed or out of stock, etc.

Cogito wrote:I read the Baylor's thread. They obviously have a pretty serious watermelon operation going, why no phone number? At least during the sales season. I wouldn't want to drive that far to find out they were closed or out of stock, etc.

They have no phone number because they have no phone. They're never out of stock during the season. They have their own (semi) trucks continually making the run up and back from Mississippi. The hours of operation are listed in the Baylor's thread.

Cantaloupes, sheesh. Best one I ever tasted I grew myself at my vineyard one year. Ol' fashioned Burpee melon. Plenty of room, plenty of sun, delish. But, as was noted upthread, there's sooo much variability: none of the other melons in this cohort tasted anywhere near as good...

Now honeydews, those I know about. Look for "sugar spots", brownish patches on the skin that look like something is wrong with the melon. 'Just the opposite' one of the fruitieres in Pittsburgh's Strip district told me as he handed me a quite patchy honeydew. The patches, he claimed, were an indication of ripeness/sugar level. I've always used that as an indicator, and it's always worked for me.

Geo