My vege garden is doing really well - too well. I planted two hills of
rockmelons and three of cucumbers. My neighbour gave me the cucumber
seedlings and I was in a huge rush at planting time so I just put them in.

Well to cut the story short the "cucumbers" are in fact rockmelons too. I
now have five hills of vines looking to take over the world, I estimate that
there are fifty to a hundred melons between golf ball and tennis ball size.
In a month or six weeks I will have more melons than I can eat or give away
to friends and neighbours.

To avoid international confusion:- (a) it is summer here (b) by rockmelon I
mean a sweet melon about 18 cm (7in) across, with a thick netted skin that
has rich aromatic orange flesh, that is wonderful to eat at the peak of
ripeness.

So how can I preserve melons? I have a bottling system (boiling water bath
type) and plenty of bottles, which is where the "cucumbers" were going to
end up, but I am unsure about the quality of bottled melons or the procedure
for doing it.

Is there a better way to preserve them that will produce a tasty edible
product? Will freezing or any other technique work?

David

On Sat 31 Dec 2005 12:17:53a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it David
Hare-Scott?

> My vege garden is doing really well - too well. I planted two hills of
> rockmelons and three of cucumbers. My neighbour gave me the cucumber
> seedlings and I was in a huge rush at planting time so I just put them
> in.
>
> Well to cut the story short the "cucumbers" are in fact rockmelons too.
> I now have five hills of vines looking to take over the world, I
> estimate that there are fifty to a hundred melons between golf ball and
> tennis ball size. In a month or six weeks I will have more melons than I
> can eat or give away to friends and neighbours.
>
> To avoid international confusion:- (a) it is summer here (b) by
> rockmelon I mean a sweet melon about 18 cm (7in) across, with a thick
> netted skin that has rich aromatic orange flesh, that is wonderful to
> eat at the peak of ripeness.

They sound like canteloupes.

> So how can I preserve melons? I have a bottling system (boiling water
> bath type) and plenty of bottles, which is where the "cucumbers" were
> going to end up, but I am unsure about the quality of bottled melons or
> the procedure for doing it.
>
> Is there a better way to preserve them that will produce a tasty edible
> product? Will freezing or any other technique work?

Balls (approx. 1" diam.) of frozen canteloupe and honeydew melon used to be
sold in many supermarkets in the US. Don't know if they still are. I have
never tried freezing them at home.


--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________ ________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.

Wayne Boatwright wrote:

> On Sat 31 Dec 2005 12:17:53a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it David
> Hare-Scott?
> > My vege garden is doing really well - too well.
> They sound like canteloupes.
> >
> > Is there a better way to preserve them that will produce a tasty edible
> > product? Will freezing or any other technique work?
>
> Balls (approx. 1" diam.) of frozen canteloupe and honeydew melon used to be
> sold in many supermarkets in the US. Don't know if they still are. I have
> never tried freezing them at home.
> Wayne Boatwright *¿*

I made cantaloupe pickles one year. Ungodly sweet and a little wierd, I won't
do that again. And they got softish even thought they were one degree short of
ripe. How about a sweet relish sort of deal? red peppers, habaneros if you like
it hot, onions, some cukes maybe, soured up with apple cider vinegar, salt &
plenty of sugar? A bit of mace or clove?
OTH, the Mexican tradition here is for "agua frescas" sort of a juice drink
with lumps of fresh, sweetened or not, with milk or not for a fresh drink. You
could juice all that lovely fruit up and freeze the juice. Oooh - I got an
idear, how about an sherbet or gelato (whatever that is) or ice cream?
Best of luck and I'm jealous and green with envy. S'okay, it goes with my eyes.

Edrena

The Joneses wrote:

> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>
> > On Sat 31 Dec 2005 12:17:53a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it David
> > Hare-Scott?
> > > My vege garden is doing really well - too well.
> > They sound like canteloupes.
> > >
> > > Is there a better way to preserve them that will produce a tasty edible
> > > product? Will freezing or any other technique work?
> >
> > Balls (approx. 1" diam.) of frozen canteloupe and honeydew melon used to be
> > sold in many supermarkets in the US. Don't know if they still are. I have
> > never tried freezing them at home.
> > Wayne Boatwright *¿*
>
> OTH, the Mexican tradition here is for "agua frescas" sort of a juice drink
> with lumps of fresh, sweetened or not, with milk or not for a fresh drink. You
> could juice all that lovely fruit up and freeze the juice.

Or using the juice with a bit of unflavored gelatin for cantaloupe Jell-o? Boil the
juice down, acid up with some citrus, lime? make syrup?
Edrena

When we have cantalope, I don't cook at all... we eat cantalope for
every meal for about a week.

I froze cantalope balls one year. They were OK, but nothing to write
home about. Certainly nothing like eating them fresh is anyways. When
you thaw them, don't let them thaw all the way or you just have mush.
Eat them sorta partially frozen.

The frozen product wasn't worth the work, IMO. If I had an excess
again, I'd probably try juicing them and making jelly.

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 15:51:39 GMT, The Joneses >
wrote:

>Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>
>> On Sat 31 Dec 2005 12:17:53a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it David
>> Hare-Scott?
>> > My vege garden is doing really well - too well.
>> They sound like canteloupes.
>> >
>> > Is there a better way to preserve them that will produce a tasty edible
>> > product? Will freezing or any other technique work?
>>
>> Balls (approx. 1" diam.) of frozen canteloupe and honeydew melon used to be
>> sold in many supermarkets in the US. Don't know if they still are. I have
>> never tried freezing them at home.
>> Wayne Boatwright *¿*
>
>I made cantaloupe pickles one year. Ungodly sweet and a little wierd, I won't
>do that again. And they got softish even thought they were one degree short of
>ripe. How about a sweet relish sort of deal? red peppers, habaneros if you like
>it hot, onions, some cukes maybe, soured up with apple cider vinegar, salt &
>plenty of sugar? A bit of mace or clove?
>OTH, the Mexican tradition here is for "agua frescas" sort of a juice drink
>with lumps of fresh, sweetened or not, with milk or not for a fresh drink. You
>could juice all that lovely fruit up and freeze the juice. Oooh - I got an
>idear, how about an sherbet or gelato (whatever that is) or ice cream?
>Best of luck and I'm jealous and green with envy. S'okay, it goes with my eyes.
>
>Edrena

Make sorbet. Just puree the melon, add an equal amount of simple
syrup, a bit of lemon juice and freeze like you would icecream.
Simply heaven.

Loki

"Loki" > wrote in message
...
>
> Make sorbet. Just puree the melon, add an equal amount of simple
> syrup, a bit of lemon juice and freeze like you would icecream.
> Simply heaven.
>
> Loki
>

This sounds promising, the softening of texture will not matter too much to
sorbet where frozen melon balls might be too mushy. Now the question is
where to find room in the freezer for 5-10 gallons of sorbet .......

David

On Sun 01 Jan 2006 04:24:33p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it David
Hare-Scott?

>
> "Loki" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> Make sorbet. Just puree the melon, add an equal amount of simple
>> syrup, a bit of lemon juice and freeze like you would icecream.
>> Simply heaven.
>>
>> Loki
>>
>
> This sounds promising, the softening of texture will not matter too much
> to sorbet where frozen melon balls might be too mushy. Now the question
> is where to find room in the freezer for 5-10 gallons of sorbet .......
>
> David

I don't think I would make that much sorbet at one time unless you're
planning on a very big party to serve it at. Homemade sorbet is best
eaten within a week or less.

Instead, determine a recipe size, then freeze those portions of melon
puree. You can make the sorbet fresh each time you want it.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________ ________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.

David Hare-Scott wrote:

> So how can I preserve melons? I have a bottling system (boiling water bath
> type) and plenty of bottles, which is where the "cucumbers" were going to
> end up, but I am unsure about the quality of bottled melons or the procedure
> for doing it.
> Is there a better way to preserve them that will produce a tasty edible
> product? Will freezing or any other technique work?
> David

Whilst washing the dehydrator after a glut of jerky making - I thought, how
about cantaloupe "leather." Anybody ever make that? Wonder if the delicate and
wonderful aroma would survive? Have to dry it pretty gently I'm thinking.
Edrena

"The Joneses" > wrote in message
...
> David Hare-Scott wrote:
>
> > So how can I preserve melons? I have a bottling system (boiling water
bath
> > type) and plenty of bottles, which is where the "cucumbers" were going
to
> > end up, but I am unsure about the quality of bottled melons or the
procedure
> > for doing it.
> > Is there a better way to preserve them that will produce a tasty edible
> > product? Will freezing or any other technique work?
> > David
>
> Whilst washing the dehydrator after a glut of jerky making - I thought,
how
> about cantaloupe "leather." Anybody ever make that? Wonder if the delicate
and
> wonderful aroma would survive? Have to dry it pretty gently I'm thinking.
> Edrena
>
>
>

In a beautiful picturesque touristy little village called Bloomfield, in
Ontario, near Picton (and the Sandbanks and Lake Ontario) there is a home
made ice cream shop called Slickers that makes the most incredible
cantaloupe ice cream - all natural and to die for.....

oh crap...not only am I not talking about anything preserved, but now I'm
craving ice cream BIG TIME!

Kathi ;-)