My Honeydew List
by Bonnie Swank

Every year most women have a list of chores that need to be done around the house, which they hand off to their husbands. This list is endearingly known as the “Honey Do List.” Things are a little different in our house. Dick hands me a seed catalog and asks what I would like him to plant. “Melons,” I reply. Honeydew, cantaloupes, canary, Charentais, Casaba and don’t forget the watermelons. That’s my “Honeydew List.”

The sweet juicy flavors of melons just scream summer. Cantaloupes, also know as muskmelons, have a rough beige skin with grayish colored netting and sweet orange flesh. With so many varieties to choose from and with such exotic names like Goddess, Aphrodite, Atlantis and Athena to the cute Pixie, a mini cantaloupe, which do I add to my list? Great on their own, in salads, desserts and main dishes you can have a lot of fun with this melon. Just remember to wash your cantaloupes before cutting into them as harmful bacteria can harbor on the surface.

The honeydew melon has smooth skin and used to only have green flesh but seed companies like Burpee now have hybrid varieties like Super Dew with white flesh and Orange Sorbet with orange flesh. The canary melon is football shaped and has bright yellow skin with cream colored flesh. Charentais melon is a French favorite and reminds me of a rounder version of a green Jardale pumpkin and has deep orange flesh with a delicate flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture. How am I supposed to decide which ones to plant. Oh well, I’ll add them all to my “Honeydew List” and see what happens. Whatever the outcome I know it will all be delicious.

Listed in order of how much I like the recipes:

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/melon-soup-with-prosciutto-breadsticks-recipe2/index.html

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/spicy-melon-salad-with-mint-and-ricotta-salata-recipe/index.html

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/melon-juice-recipe/index.html

Kids Fun!

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/melt-in-your-mouth-melon-686643/

Ingredients

• 1 Crenshaw melon peeled, seeded and diced into 1-inch cubes

• 1 cantaloupe peeled, seeded and diced into 1-inch cubes

• 2 teaspoons chili flakes

• 3 tablespoons freshly chopped mint leaves

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• Sea salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 cup shaved ricotta salata cheese

Directions

In a large nonreactive mixing bowl, combine the melons, chili flakes, mint, olive oil, and season, to taste, with gray salt and pepper. Serve immediately topped with the shaved ricotta salata.

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Melon

Ingredients

• 1 honeydew

• Raspberry sorbet

• Chocolate chips

Instructions

Halve the honeydew, discard the seeds, and chill it overnight in the fridge.

The next day, put the halves in the freezer for 15 minutes, pull them out, and pack them with sorbet, gently evening off the top.

Using a chilled knife, slice each half into halves again (make sure the melon is sorbet side up).

Finally, insert a row of chocolate chip seeds and serve immediately.

~ Bonnie and her husband Dick Swank are owners of Swank Farms in Hollister. To learn more visit SwankFarms.com or contact them at: 831-637-4704