I used to think the melons I bought at my local supermarket were fairly tasty, but that was before I got a real education in cantaloupe freshness from Andy Vermeulen, at Vermeulen Farms. I happened to be visiting his farm in the Annapolis Valley, NS, last summer to discuss his crop of root vegetables when, out of the blue, he asked me if I would like to try one of his cantaloupes.
“We don’t grow cantaloupes in Atlantic Canada,” I thought. “They only grow in tropical climates.”
In fact, the Annapolis Valley produces close to 500,000 melons every year and Andy’s were some of the juiciest, brightest tasting melons I have ever had.
Had agri-scientists created a special hybrid that would flourish in our relatively cool temperatures and short seasons? No—in fact, cantaloupes were first grown in the Annapolis Valley in the late ’80s by farmers Lawrence Bishop and Harry Morse; Morse still grows a small crop to this day. It’s actually the same variety that’s grown in Florida and California, called ‘Athena.’
Even though growing them here has stood the test of time, growing a tropical fruit in our climate is not without its challenges. Cantaloupes are a long-season crop, meaning they must remain in the field for about 90 days; typically, local cantaloupe farmers have about a six-week window, from early August until mid-September to get their crop to market.
So why are Andy’s melons so tasty? It’s primarily because they are ripened on the plant and not on a flatbed truck or cargo container. Many times producers pick the fruit before it’s ripe in order to allow for shipping time. The longer the fruit stays on the plant, the longer it will continue to produce sugar. Another good reason to buy local.
Cantaloupe can-do
Cantaloupes grow along vines on the ground, a distinction they share with their close relatives cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. They are low in calories—at about 60 calories per cup—and very high in vitamins A and C. They are also a good source of beta-carotene.
Here are the keys to detecting a melon’s sweetness. First, pick it up and smell it; it should have a sweet, musky scent. A melon with no scent will also have no taste. Next, rap on the melon with your knuckles; it should make a dull, thumping sound, which indicates it’s full of juice. If a cantaloupe sounds hollow, that’s a pretty good indicator that it is not ripe.
Another tip is to look at the stem end: if there’s a nice oval where the stem was removed, as opposed to a half-moon shape, the melon should be ripe.