Forest fires make an orange-colored sun and produce lesson #2: picking a sweet melon

First up, when I woke up later this morning / early afternoon and walked outside, I noticed that the sun shining on the floor outside of my front door was orange ... how strange. I'm not talking about orange tinted wonderful sunshine - I mean, the light itself on the floor was actually a relatively dark orange at 11am.

I later found out in our neighborhood blog that the orange light is caused by forest fires up in British Columbia - the particles and all the stuff burning in the air is reflecting the light differently and letting certain colors of the spectrum through while blocking others. Pretty neat! For now, at least:

Sun was this color all morning/afternoon

I went to the farmer's market this afternoon to check out what is currently in season and also to look if anybody was selling jams since I'm about to embark on a little trial of selling mine. I was REALLY in the mood for some honeydew, but all that was in right now was a bunch of cantaloupe, so I got one of those instead. Honeydew season is next month or so, just after the cantaloupes.

Random Fact: What we call a "cantaloupe" here in the U.S. is actually correctly called a "muskmelon". Real cantaloupes do not have a webbed skin on the outside. In Europe, a "cantaloupe" has orange flesh, but a smooth skin.

I think it's the biggest mystery to people about how to tell whether a melon will be sweet. You see people at the market weighing different ones to see the heaviest, thumping them, smelling them, squeezing them, etc. After doing some research and adding in some common sense about how the only way fruit becomes sweet is if it's actually left on the vine until it's ready (not picked early), here's what I found out:

First, check where the stem used to be on the melon. This spot, called a "slip" should be completely smooth with no jagged parts or remnants of stem left. If it is rough or does not have a completely smooth indentation, it means that the melon was cut off of the vine rather than naturally "released" by the plant. Jagged slips or slips with stem still attached mean a melon that had to be cut away from the plant because it was not ripe and the plant did not naturally release the melon. Don't fight nature!

Second, look at the color underneath the webbing - it should have a nice orange glow. The more even this orange around the whole melon, the more ripe (and sweeter) it will be. Less ripe melons will have green or white colored skin underneath the webbing.

Now, look at the end of the melon that is opposite the stem slip. This end is called the "blossom end" since it's the flower end of the melon blossom before it turned into the fruit. See the "dot" of webbing right at the tip? If you gently press the area around that "dot", the melon should give in slightly

Finally, probably one of the best signs of all ... look for a big yellow "butter spot". This is one of the best indicators because this is the part of the melon that sat on the ground in the field while it was growing. You can identify the butter spot by the fact that the webbing is not as well defined or may be missing in some parts. Choose a melon that has a big yellow butter spot (but not mushy). This means that the melon sat on the ground for a long time, giving it time to ripen on the vine.

If the melons are room temp, smelling it doesn't hurt either. I've learned that thumping does not really help since each individual person judges a "hollow" sound or a "thud" sound very differently.

Follow the above rules this summer melon season to find sweet, delicious fruit! And of course, buy from the farmers themselves - it's the best way to guarantee yourself good fruit and support your local agricultural community. 

The rules for watermelon and honeydew are similar - the best indicator being a large yellow butter spot. Farmers look for this spot when they pick their melons. Honeydew should also feel slightly waxy, not totally slick.

On an exciting note, I may start selling my jams at the Highland Park farmer's market in West Seattle since they have an opening for more vendors. Molly and I are going to figure out details when we drive up to Skagit River Valley again to get some more berries for jams and preserves. I'd like to make a little bit of pocket money with this little operation, but the main motivation is just getting outside to be amongst everybody else in the farmer's markets. Plus, seeing other people enthusiastic about the things I've made (hopefully!) is really fun too :-) I might supplement the jams with selling fresh farmer's eggs if we buy a lot since farmers markets always seem to run out of local, farm fresh eggs and people are always looking for them.

Finally, congrats to Ben & Crystal on their beautiful baby boy, Caden. I guess that makes me an uncle now!