I harvested my first cantaloupe of 2012 yesterday. It was the first one that formed and I've been watching it and watching it! I touched the stem to see if it would release. The stem was still a tad green, but it gave way. The melon had a bit of green stripe left, so I brought it in and made Brett wait until TODAY before we cut it.
Brett is the cantaloupe connoisseur in this house. I enjoy cantaloupe, but watermelon & honey dew are my favs. So at 8:00 this morning, we cut that baby.
Notice the bright orange color and how you can barely even see an "edge" where the melon flesh stops and the rind begins? You just can't get that in a grocery-store bought melon. Farmer's market, yes. Grocery store? No way.
Isn't it purty? Brett rated it an 8/10. I asked him why he marked it so low? He said, "An 8 is like a "B", and I'm not comparing it to store bought." Fair enough, Brett~~~
The variety of cantaloupe I'm growing this year is "Halona Melon", which I purchased from Pinetree Garden Seeds as it says it's for the North & does well with cooler weather and shorter seasons, good yield of 4-5lb fruits. Well, oops! We've had an incredibly HOT SEASON that is not SHORT and this first cantaloupe was only 3 lbs 1oz.
Yummilicious!!!!!
By the way, this is my 500th post!!!!!
First Cantaloupe!
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious, Dorothy. It so difficult to find a good one in the supermarket. I have had to throw a few in the garbage because they had no flavor at all.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on post # 500!