This very first Grown Diaries experiment is a type of melon, defined at Wikipedia as: ‘…the fruit and plant of a typically vine-like (climber and trailer) herb that was first cultivated more than 4000 years ago (~ 2000 BC) in Persia and Africa…. Many different melon cultivars have been produced, perhaps the most popular or well-known being cantaloupe and honeydew.’
The cantaloupe (also known as rockmelon or muskmelon) has a rough, beige rind and orange flesh. According to my wife, who is way more knowledgeable about these things, the oranger the better.
She brought home a cantaloupe melon a couple of days ago, cubed it up, and threw it in a plastic bag in the fridge, as apparently it is better cold. Tonight, she pulled out the bag. The picture above shows my portion.
It was quite moist and melony but with its own unique taste that filled the mouth. Very fleshy, squishier on the tongue than a crisper watermelon. It also had a definite, strong aftertaste that is still evident some minutes later as I write this. Although I ate it at night, I expect cantaloupe would be very refreshing on a hot day.
As far as the popular ice cream accompaniment goes, I think we can safely say that most everything tastes better with ice cream. And for the purposes of this site, that would definitely be cheating. :)
Wound up taking a few pieces with me for the trip to work the next morning. Very good.
I occasionally get the tiniest wave of repulsion — almost like a whisper of panic. What a peculiar thing, when looked at from an objective distance. I do think this process is helping, but not every experiment will be this easy.