SAVEUR contributing editor Farideh Sadeghin got the recipe for this refreshing melon drink from her Iranian-born father, who makes it by grating fresh cantaloupe and combining it with water, sugar, and mint. You can also add a little gin for a cooling summer cocktail.

Featured in “Chasing the Perfect Persian Rice.”

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Melons don’t get the love they deserve. Watermelons—an undeniable symbol of summer—hog most of the glory but cantaloupes, honeydews, and even bitter melons offer a wide look into just how varied the melon world truly is. 

Cantaloupes are a muskmelon staple in the precut fruit aisle. But for most of the year, they are bland echoes of their summer glory. The season’s best boast soft, orange fruit with an intensely sweet taste perfect in refreshing drinks, bright tarts, and even atop toast. At their best, ripe, smooth-skinned honeydews, with their pale green-tinged flesh, are firmer and even sweeter than their smaller, sunny-hued cousins. . Melons can be left to ripen at room temperature for several days, but to really experience their refreshing flavors on a hot day, chill them in the fridge before serving.

Bitter melons occupy a space unique to cucurbits and are nothing like their sweeter muskier sisters. Featuring an elongated, bumpy body, these vegetables boast a bitter, acerbic taste. Despite this, they hold a special place in Indian and Asian cuisines as a cooling, refreshing agent in dishes. Salting ahead of cooking leeches out the harsher tannins and tames the bitter melon, allowing it to be used as an exceptionally sharp ingredient in stir-fries, stews, curries, and even cocktails.

Shibuya Honey Toast

This over-the-top architectural dessert (also known as brick toast) is popular in tea shops and casual restaurants in Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore. The dish is meant to be shared with a friend (or three) and the more color, texture, and height the better, so don’t skimp on the garnishes. Cookies, seasonal fruit, and candy are typical ingredients, but sprinkles, nuts, and flavored syrups are not unheard of. Get the recipe for Shibuya Honey Toast »

Claus Melon Tart

This unusual Santa Claus melon tart makes for the perfect summer dessert. A bright melon curd fills an almond crust, topped with fresh slices of the fruit. Get the recipe for Santa Claus Melon Tart »

Melon au Porto

The simple pairing of cantaloupe and port could be found on the menu of any classic mid-century French restaurant. The best melon to use is the French Charentais, which is small and slightly acidic (though still sweet), but it’s just as good with a musk or hand melon or cantaloupe. Get the recipe for Melon au Porto »

Melon Butter

Bala de Canon

Tequila, agave nectar, and cantaloupe purée get shaken up in this summery cocktail from Houston’s The Pastry War. Get the recipe for Bala de Canon »

Persian Cantaloupe Drink

Test kitchen director Farideh Sadeghin got the recipe for this refreshing melon drink from her Iranian-born father, who makes it by grating fresh cantaloupe and combining it with water, sugar, and fresh mint. You can add a little gin for a cooling summer cocktail. Get the recipe for Persian Cantaloupe Drink »

Grilled Cantaloupe with Peach Agrodolce

In this elegant dessert, cantaloupe is grilled until it caramelizes and is then dressed with agrodolce, a sour-sweet Italian sauce made by reducing vinegar and sugar. Get the recipe for Grilled Cantaloupe with Peach Agrodolce »

Thandai

Indian thandai, literally translated as ‘something that cools’, is a sweet, creamy milk drink flavored with nuts and mixed with spices such as cardamom, fennel, rose petals, and poppy seeds. On Holi, the Indian festival of colors, the refreshment is traditionally served with the addition of bhaang (a derivative of marijuana). Here we’ve substituted gin instead, which accentuates the nutty, warmly-spiced, floral flavors in thandai perfectly. Get the recipe for Thandai »

Black Pepper and Honey-Marinated Cantaloupe with Basil

A sprinkle of sea salt enhances the sweetness of cantaloupe marinated in honey and spices. Get the recipe for Black Pepper and Honey-Marinated Cantaloupe with Basil »

Calavera Catrina

This tequila and cantaloupe cocktail from Edinburgh’s The Lucky Liquor Co. is refreshing and fruity, making it the perfect summer drink. Get the recipe for Calavera Catrina »

Fried Camembert with Ham, Melon, and Cranberry Vinaigrette

Wedges of gooey fried Camembert are served with both a sweet wine-spiked raspberry jam and a tart cranberry vinaigrette in this dish. Get the recipe for Fried Camembert with Ham, Melon, and Cranberry Vinaigrette »

Green Gin Cocktail

The extracted juice from bitter melons takes the place of common bittering agents, such as Campari, in this floral, lime-punched cocktail. Get the recipe for Green Gin Cocktail »

The Borderline Escape

One of the most popular snacks on the streets of Mexico is fresh fruit dusted with chile powder. The flavors and aromas of that snack are brought back in this tequila-based drink. Get the recipe for The Borderline Escape »

Video: How to Cut A Melon

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Every July, 100 Camargue horses are released in the center of the French city of Cavaillon in celebration not of a national holiday, but of the local melon. Not just any melon, the Charentais melon of Cavaillon is regarded as one of the best in the world. The running of the horses is the grand finale at the Fête des Melons, during which crowds of people gather in the small Provençal town to honor the storied fruit.

For the annual festival, the green-striped, honeysuckle-sweet melons are piled all over town, and revelers attend melon tastings, peruse melon-themed art, tour melon farms, and so on. This multi-day party is not to be dismissed as frivolity, however. The Cavaillon melon has a dedicated Brotherhood of Knights (Confrérie des Chevaliers de l’Ordre du Melon de Cavaillon) who inspect density, sugar content, and appearance—and thus verify authenticity.

Not to be confused with American cantaloupes (which belong, confusingly, to the muskmelon and not the cantaloupe family), Cavaillon melons are small and round with smooth or very lightly netted greenish-gold skin and dark green stripes. The orange flesh is deeply perfumed, sweet, and mildly acidic. Walk into any open-air market in Provence during peak season, and their intoxicating scent is one of the first things you’ll note.

These highly celebrated melons have a recorded history that dates back to 1495. Many say that their story goes back even farther, to over a century prior, when Avignon (25 miles from Cavaillon) was the official residence of the—apparently melon-loving—popes, but the wide fame of the Cavaillon melon truly began in the mid-19th century with the ability to ship, and therefore sell, melons by train to Paris.

Their fans are dedicated and at times famous. In 1864, in exchange for copies of his published works, Alexandre Dumas (author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, among other classics) requested 12 melons a year for life. He enjoyed a total of 72 perfectly ripe Cavaillon melons before his death in 1870.

“The colors of the Cavaillon melon match the natural colors of peak summer in Provence,” says Lise Kvan. Kvan and her husband Éric Montéléon own and operate Le Saint Hubert, a hotel-restaurant in Provence’s Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, 30 minutes by car from Cavaillon. Melon harvest stretches from mid-June through September and, calendar aside, Kvan knows it’s the season when “neighbors start bringing us extras.” In the early part of the season, Kvan and Montéléon serve the honeyed fruit in granola parfaits, in salads, or as an accompaniment to locally made goat cheese.

Another classically French presentation is chilled, scooped-out melon halves with a shot of port or Muscat de Beaumes de Venise (a sweet local wine) poured into the center. By the end of the season, the intense summer heat ripens the melons more quickly on the vine, meaning they need to be picked and used just as fast. To stretch their time, Kvan turns them into chutney, granita, and gazpacho served with highly seasoned shrimp.

Charentais melons can be and are grown outside of Cavaillon. While still delicious, the combination of Mediterranean sun and soil is not one to be exactly reproduced whether you’re talking melons or summer holidays. You can pick up a pack of seeds to try your hand at home, but to taste the Cavaillon melon in top form, you’ll need to travel.

Luckily, once you’re here, choosing a ripe melon is like finding another queer person at a Robyn concert—not exactly a difficult task. That said, there are some general guidelines to follow: “The way that you choose a melon is by weight, first. Then smell,” Kvan says. Hold it in your palm—it should feel solid and heavy. “When you tap it, it should have an almost hollow sound, like a dense thud.” This weight indicates the density of sugared water content. The heavier the content, the sweeter the melon.

If playing balance scale isn’t your thing, go by aroma. “The scent should be really intense, and the general smell should be everywhere on the melon,” says Kvan. “If it’s not quite there when you buy it, let it ripen at room temperature a few days.”

Some also say that the number of stripes indicates its ripeness: 10 strips for perfection, 9 or 11 and it’s either too early or too late. However you suss out the ripest of them all, just remember that the reward for your efforts is a melon worthy of 100 horses charging through a town center—and you’re worth it.

The post This French Melon Is Everything Cantaloupe Wishes It Could Be appeared first on Saveur.

Green and covered in ridges and pebbly bumps, the bitter melon looks like a weaponized cucumber. And it almost is: The melon contains powerfully bitter compounds. But it’s more food miracle than menace. It’s packed with vitamin C and is known to reduce blood sugar levels. In Okinawa, goya, as bitter melon is known in Japan, is partly credited for the long life spans of residents there.

To prepare it, halve it lengthwise and scoop out the white inner pith and seeds with a spoon. Chop or thinly slice the flesh, toss it with salt to leach out some of its bitterness, and then squeeze out its astringent juice. You can stir-fry it (as in Goya Champuru), juice it for a morning green juice or Green Gin Cocktail, or blanch it in boiling water, as you would broccoli rabe, for a salad.

Read more about Okinawan cuisine »

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The extracted juice from bitter melons takes the place of common bittering agents, such as Campari, in this floral, lime-punched cocktail.

Featured in: Why the Food in Okinawa’s Not Like Anything in the Rest of Japan

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Soft tofu, scrambled eggs, and rich pork belly stand up to the astringent bitter melon flesh in this flavorful stir-fry. Salting the melon leaches out much of its harsh tannins, so don’t skip this step or the dish will be unpalatably bitter.

Featured in: Why the Food in Okinawa’s Not Like Anything in the Rest of Japan

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At the end of the summer, when you’re already grilling anyway, there’s no need to turn on another appliance. From grilled poundcake to an open-fire steamed pudding (yes, steamed pudding), these easy desserts are just one step away from laying out a bowl of fresh fruit and pint of ice cream. Plus, they’ll keep you out of the kitchen—and away from that hot stove and oven—so you can enjoy more time where you belong: in the backyard, where the fun’s happening.

Grilled Strawberries

Pickled Stone Fruit and Burrata Flatbread

Ultimate S’more

Grilled Pound Cake with Basil-Plum Compote

Grilled Peaches with Honey-Almond Streusel

Grilled Cantaloupe with Peach Agrodolce

Wild Blueberry Steamed Pudding

Ricotta Crostini with Chestnut Honey

Grilled Sangria

The post 8 Desserts (And 1 Cocktail) to Grill for Labor Day appeared first on Saveur.

Tequila, agave nectar, and cantaloupe purée get shaken up in this summery cocktail from Houston’s The Pastry War.

Featured in: It’s the Summer of Melon Cocktails

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Watermelon has enjoyed renewed popularity in cocktails, especially mixed with smoky mezcal in a play on barbecue flavors, as of late. But now two other melons—cantaloupe and honeydew, those stars of breakfast buffets everywhere—are taking off on bar menus too. Many of the melon drinks are bright and juicy as you might expect. The mint-plumed Starbuck Swizzle at the Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. in Philadelphia, features a mixture of honeydew, lime, and pineapple juices to sweeten and brighten the boozy base of gin, Green Chartreuse, and Bonal, a French aperitif wine. In the Nuke Laloosh at Indianpolis’s Black Market, cantaloupe juice is paired with rum, Yellow Chartreuse, and a splash of white balsamic vinegar. Sweet cantaloupe and honeydew are natural partners with tequila. At Houston’s The Pastry War, cantaloupe puree is mixed with Tequila Cabeza and lemon juice, and garnished with melon balls and chia seeds in the the Bala de Canon. For the Calavera Catrina at The Lucky Liquor Co. in Edinburgh, chunks of cantaloupe are shaken with Ocho reposado tequila, Cointreau, orgeat, and lime juice.

Bartenders are also going beyond melon chunks and juice, making shrubs, infusions, and syrups from the sweet fruit. At the Sacramento’s bar-barbershop hybrid Bottle & Bartlow, a honeydew-cucumber shrub enlivens a sprightly mix of gin, lemon, and prosecco. Gin is infused with honeydew and melon at New York’s Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog and then mixed with dry vermouth, and a touch of falernum syrup, for a melon martini. At Atlanta’s Holeman and Finch Public House, the gin-based Fabulous Moolah sweetens a mix of lemon, Avezè (a French aperitif made from gentian), and lemon bitters with honeydew melon syrup. And at the Broken Shaker in Chicago, honeydew melon is used in homemade tonic syrup for the seasonal Gin & Tonic.

Get the recipe for The Lucky Liquor Co.’s Calavera Catrina »
Get the recipe for The Pastry War’s Bala de Canon »

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This tequila and cantaloupe cocktail from Edinburgh’s The Lucky Liquor Co. is refreshing and fruity, making it the perfect summer drink.

Featured in: It’s the Summer of Melon Cocktails

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Chef Silvia Baldini grew up making this summery melon spread every year with her family in Italy; it’s a great way to preserve dense melons like cantaloupes into the winter. Pair it with prosciutto, cheeses, or spread it on toast.

Baldini takes two very ripe melons—go for melons that aren’t too watery, like cantaloupe or charentais—removes the skin, and dices them. She then adds them to a pot along with half of their weight in sugar and cooks them until they break down, about 40 minutes. Then she uses an immersion blender to make a very smooth purée, then returns it to the heat and cooks it down for another ten minutes, until it’s thick and jelly-like. From there, you can either pour it into jars and refrigerate it for a couple of weeks, or process it (refer to the NCHFP’s canning guidelines) and break it out in winter, when perfectly ripe summer melons are a distant memory.

Get the recipe for Summer Melon Butter »

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