Perhaps you’ve seen the late night infomercial in which Cindy Crawford shills something called Meaningful Beauty, a skin product (?!) that contains fairy-dust derivatives of some exotic melon found in the nether regions of France. Hogwash! You want the benefits of melon, eat some; don’t slop this goo on your skin. It’s good ol’ vitamin A that does the trick, and 1 cup will give you over 100% of your daily needs.
Melons have a myriad of uses, have you ever tried a chilled cantaloupe soup? Super easy to make, delicious and extremely good for you.
Many of us have become disenchanted with processed fruit juices lately, noting that in terms of nutrition they often have just as much sugars in them as a bottle of pop; the honeymoon may be over but the honeydew is just beginning!
Rather than dumping a cup of store-bought fruit juice into your next smoothie, why not add a cup of chopped melon, high in water content and full of electrolytes. You can also just blitz a whole honeydew or cantaloupe and get about 750 ml of puree, and store it in your fridge for a great low-calorie addition to your smoothie that contains a lot less sugar but is still packed with nutrition, high in beta-carotene, anti-oxidants and vitamins C and A.
Cross your fingers but I think the warm weather is here to stay, which means that now is the perfect time to start your garden. All over town people are getting into their garden, planting annuals and sprucing up the yard with grown cover, shrubbery and ivy. This year, why not skip the peonies and grow some plants you can eat? Like melons!
You may not have the inclination or green thumb to invest in fruit trees, or grapes, or even raspberry bushes, but I bet you can handle a melon patch. Though melons are usually grown in warm climates, southern Ontario is perfect in the summer for producing a big patch of beautiful, delicious and healthy melons. It may be a little challenging, but not impossible, and here the good folks at Canadian Gardening tell us how. And get the kids to help you! Children are fascinated by caring for living, growing plants, and being the steward of a small patch of melons will teach them so many important lessons about assuming responsibility for a living entity, nurturing, cause and effect, where our food comes from and respect for all things great and small.
Here is a recipe for the aforementioned Chilled Cantaloupe Soup; healthy, beautiful presentation and souper easy to make!
Canataloupe Soup
- 1 medium cantaloupe; make about ½ a dozen melon balls and set aside
- ½ cup yogurt plus ½ a cup for garnish
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- pinch each of salt, and ground cinnamon or ginger
- A few fresh basil or mint leaves, chopped. Set aside sprigs of mint for garnish.
Cup cantaloupe and add all ingredients to blender or food processor and blend until well combined. Refrigerate until well chilled. Garnish with a few reserved melon balls, a blob of yogurt and sprig of mint.