Add fresh melons to the menu

Melons are chock full of vitamins and low in calories, making them the perfect snack. We'll give you some pointers to choose the perfect, most ripe melon and teach you how to incorporate it into your meals.

If only melons came with tags indicating how ripe they were. You'd never pick a bad one again! The next best thing? Use these cues:

• Watermelon: Thump it to see if it's ripe. If it sounds a bit hollow, it should be ready. You can also shake it to see if the seeds are loose, which indicates ripeness.
• Cantaloupe: If it smells too sweet and musky, it's probably past its prime. Unlike watermelon, cantaloupe will continue to ripen at room temperature, so if you buy one that's not quite ripe, keep it on the counter until it's ready.
• Honeydew: Press the melon with your thumb and look for a smooth outer peel and softness at the stem end.

Use these tips when preparing melon:

• Be sure to rinse melons well before you cut them. Since melons are grown on vines that lie on the ground, they come in contact with all kinds of bacteria from dirt, water, and animals. When you slice through the peel, you could move that bacteria from the outside to the inside on the knife.
• For convenience, consider buying a melon baller. These come in various sizes and make it easy to serve melon as an appetizing snack or dessert. They're also good for coring pears and apples.

• Make melons part of any fruit salad. Use a scooped-out watermelon shell to serve the salad at a picnic.
• Try a salad with watermelon chunks and feta cheese, topped with fresh mint leaves. If you like, throw in some toasted pumpkin seeds or pine nuts.
• Make a refreshing watermelon slush by mixing cubed watermelon and ice in the blender. Add a bit of honey at the end for some extra sweetness.
• You can garnish plates with a slice of watermelon.
• Serve honeydew with vanilla ice cream.
• Mix small melon cubes with chicken or seafood salad.
• Make a delicious watermelon salsa by blending watermelon, sweet onions, black beans, jalapeños, chopped cilantro, minced garlic, and salt.
• Keep melon cubes or balls in the fridge for a handy and refreshing snack.
• Blend cantaloupe, orange juice, lime juice, and cinnamon for a cold soup appetizer.
• Make a melon smoothie with cantaloupe, honeydew, lime juice, and a little honey.
• Place chunks or balls of several different types of melon on skewers for a fun, colourful appetizer. Try adding grapes in between the melon slices.
• Eat thinly sliced cantaloupe or honeydew on top of Swiss cheese for a colourful snack.

Melons are fantastic fruits that you can add to a huge variety of dishes or just snack on by themselves. Use these melon tips and get creative! There's no limit to the tasty creations you can whip up.

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