When you have a large crop of melons from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include them in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use them up before they go bad without getting sick of them. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
All melons are considered together in this article, including watermelons, cantaloupes, and other melons.
All of the below uses refer to melon fruits, as opposed to the other parts of the plant, unless otherwise indicated.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve melons:
- Add the fruits, flowers, stems, leaves, and shoots to soups and broths. Although the fruits and flowers have the best flavor, all above-ground parts of melon plants are edible and make good additions to broths.
- Toss them with fresh cilantro and dried cayenne for a flavorful side.
- Make a fruity salsa with melons, jalapeños, and cilantro.
- Use them as Walls in an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Make a Simple Salad. A few ideas for Simple Salad combinations with melons are as follows:
- Avocados and spinach
- Grapes and kiwi
- Cucumbers and basil
- Cucumbers and peppermint
- Cucumbers and spearmint
- Peppermint and feta. This combination is especially good with watermelon.
- Add them to other salads.
- Add them to smoothies. Melons serve multiple purposes in smoothies, adding flavor and serving as thickeners.
- Make a tea with the flowers and fruits or add them to tea blends. Melon flowers are best prepared as an infusion. Melon flowers and fruits can be added to infusion blends with other herbs as well.
- Make a lotion. Melon fruits and flowers can be infused in oil and then further processed into lotions, balms, and salves. This allows their emollient properties to shine.
- Pickle them, alone or with thyme or peppermint.
- Freeze them. Melons may change texture when thawing due to their high water content. But they can still be used in smoothies, soups, teas, lotions, and other preparations that are not significantly impacted by texture.
Further Reading
Growing melons? Check out these quick facts like their best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Melons are also featured in these articles: