Three ideas for cooking melon differently

In the vast Cucurbitaceae family, the melon, or Cucumis melo, is one of the most difficult species to classify as it is polymorphic. The melon can be monoecious (separate male and female flowers, but united on the same plant), hermaphroditic (both male and female flowers) or a mixture. It can have ridged or angular stems, oval or round leaves, fruits of various sizes, with smooth, rough or warty skin, with white, yellow, green or orange flesh, sweet, tart or tasteless.

Its origin is indistinct, since wild type melons are found from Africa to Southeast Asia.

There are several thousand varieties: Astrakhan melon, originating in southern Anatolia, Persian red melon (small variegated fruit), snake melon (similar to a cucumber that can exceed 1 meter in length), watermelon with green flesh (honeydew, for Americans), Piel del Sapo melon (“toad”in Spanish), winter melon or even the tasty cantaloupe (or Charentais) melon, often hybridized with the embroidered and great favorite of the French.

Its origin is indistinct, since wild type melons are found from Africa to Southeast Asia. According to Georges Gibault (history of vegetables, 1912), “Of all the fruits which the art of the gardener obtains, the melon is the one which has most excited the gluttony of men. There is nothing like a good melon with tender, melting, sweet, vinous flesh to delight the palate of a gourmet”.

Traditional

One of the few fruits eaten as a starter rather than a dessert, the melon has become, in Italy and France, associated with dry ham, preferably from Parma. A tradition that finds its source in ancient dietary precepts recommending the consumption of fresh and aqueous products at the start of a meal, rebalanced with salt, fat and wine. A twist of the pepper mill and a few mint or basil leaves add even more to this summer classic.

Innovative

If a good ripe melon is enough on its own, it also bends to all kinds of transformations: stewed or mixed in juice (when it is too ripe), marinated, confit in the oven, flame-grilled or grated fresh in julienne when it is green – seasoned with chilli, spring onion and lemon, it goes divinely with shellfish. Without forgetting its peelings, which can be made into an excellent flavored vinegar.

Melon with ginger, sardines and spring onions from David Bizet

Melon with ginger, sardines and spring onions by David Bizet.

The new executive chef of the Peninsula Paris sublimates rare or singular products, here a sucrin de Tours, a cousin variety of the Charentais melon, whose flavor is less sweet, more vegetal. He offers it on the menu of L’oiseau blanc (1 Michelin star), in a ginger marinade, with flame-cooked spring onions and sardines. Surprising and delicious.

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