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Canary melon
Cucumis melo · Melon
40 pairings
The canary melon is a brilliant, canary-yellow winter melon, the smooth, oblong fruit of the trailing gourd vine Cucumis melo (Inodorus group). Named for the vivid plumage of the bird, it has firm, pale-white flesh that is mildly sweet with a faint, distinctive tang — softer and a touch sharper than honeydew — and it is eaten chilled in wedges, cubed into fruit salad, and prized as a striking, long-keeping market melon.
Picking a good onedrag
Green-cast, rock hard, muteSlack, dull, weeping
Firm yellowCubes and balls cleanly - fruit salad, skewers, wedges with prosciutto.Buy it
Rind colourYellow coming up, a green tinge at the ends
Blossom endFirm, the faintest give under a thumb
Cut stem endStub dry and corky, scar tight
Smell at the blossom endClean cucumber-green, nose on the skin
What to look for, from green-cast, rock hard, mute to slack, dull, weeping.
What one gives you
60%
Usable yield
rind and seeds out · casaba's figure
Keeping ittap a band
Below about 7 C the smooth rind pits and stains and ripening stalls - a cool larder, not the fridge. Cut melon is the opposite: wrap it and chill.
Humidity
90-95%
The hard waxy rind holds water well, so it needs no bag; but weeks in dry air still cost weight and the blossom end shrivels first.
Airflow
Open, uncovered
Uncovered, air all round, never stacked deep. It is cut from the vine rather than slipped, so rot walks in at that cut stem - keep it dry.
Barely makes it, but answers to it
It makes almost none itself, so it will not hurry its neighbours; ethylene from apples or bananas only softens it and speeds decay, adding no sweetness.