Summer is my favourite grocery shopping time of the year. Markets are bountiful with ripe strawberries, and filled with the sweet scent of melons.
Watermelons, cantaloupes and honeydews are commonly found melon varieties in North American grocery markets. Vancouver, BC, Canada also sees some supply of Korean yellow melons, which are predominantly available at Asian grocers. But in Silicon Valley, there are plenty of melon varieties to come by at your local grocers and at the farmers’ markets.
| Some melon varieties found at Silicon Valley grocery stores and/or farmers’ markets: | |||
| Rind Color | Flesh Color | Size | |
| Cantaloupe | netted gray-green rind | peach-orange | football |
| Charentais | netted gray-green rind with dark green lines running longitudinally | peach-orange | softball |
| Crenshaw | dark green when unripe, changing to yellow when ripened | light peach | football |
| Galia | netted gray-green rind | light yellow | dodgeball |
| Honeydew | pale green-yellow | light green | dodgeball |
| Korean Yellow Melon | yellow with white ridges | white | two oranges |
| Piel de Sapo | dark green | white | football |
| Sharlyn | tan/yellow-orange | white/pale orange | football |
| Watermelon | light green with dark green lines running longitudinally | red | basketball |
| Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of melons, including descriptions of their rind and flesh colour, and taste. | |||
Choosing a melon: Look for a melon, heavy for its size, free of blemishes or soft spots, symmetrical in shape and, preferably, with a couche (i.e. spot where the melon rested on the ground when growing, different in colour than the rest of the melon). If you can’t find a ripe melon, leave an unripened one out in room temperature for a few days. You should smell a sweet fragrance from the rind of a ripe melon.
Hope you’ll enjoy a sweet, refreshing slice of summer.
Silicon Valley Loonies 