Snap melon

Cucumis melo var. momordica · Melon

40 pairings

The snap melon, or phut (फूट), is a long, pale, low-sugar South Asian melon — the fruit of the trailing gourd vine Cucumis melo var. momordica, a monsoon-season "vegetable melon" of the Momordica group. Named for flesh so soft and fibrous that a ripe fruit cracks or "snaps" open of its own accord, it is barely sweet, mealy and cucumber-fresh, and is eaten across India and Pakistan as much as a vegetable and a cooling summer drink as a dessert fruit.

Picking a good onedrag

Hard, green, stripedSplit open and souring

TurningCream breaking through the stripes, still firm. Keeps a couple of days and goes either way: cook it green today, or let it come up for drinking.Buy it

RindCream breaking through between the stripes

Give under the thumbFirm, the blossom end just yields

Stem endStem drying at the tip, still on

Smell at the blossom endA faint musk close up

What to look for, from hard, green, striped to split open and souring.

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 3× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90-95%

The thin rind loses water fast, so it wrinkles and the ends shrivel in dry air; damp air, but never wet - water sitting in a seam starts the rot.

Airflow

Open, uncovered

Stand it uncovered with air all round, never bagged or stacked. Once a seam opens, wrap it, refrigerate it and use it the same day.

Ripens on, and answers to it

It ripens on after picking and gasses as it goes, so keep it clear of leafy greens and cucumbers. Ethylene from a banana beside it only softens it faster - it adds no sugar.

Preparing