A dip in sulfur or ascorbic acid will prevent oxidation when drying it in a dehydrator. Actually most US cantaloupe are really muskmelons. The true cantaloupe are grown in France only. I started some seeds indoors almost 4 weeks ago and they are nearly a foot tall now.

I know they are really Musket melons, but people look at me weird when I say that, so I just call them Cantelope. I also grew some Charantais melons. They tasted very similar, but were smaller, stayed a bit crisper when ripe and had a stronger smell. They weren't as productive, but were fun to try.
So have you dried Musket melon? How big do you cut the pieces and how long does it take to dry?

Thank you,
Tyffanie

No, I have only tried one kind of musk a few years ago, and gave some to a friend who had never tasted one. He wasn't impressed by the taste, and nether was I. My brothers father in law had a big farm in Salem NH (Hawkins) some years ago and was famous for his cantaloupe. I wish I knew what kind it was, but he passed away before I could find out. I am trying some different cantaloupe seeds this year, Hearts of Gold and Hales, started indoors and are getting big. By the end of May I can plant outside. I had good luck with seedless watermelon last summer too. The pieces will shrink a LOT due to all the water, so I suggest at least an inch cube or slightly larger. The largest pieces may take a couple of days to dry, provided you have a good dehydrator with maybe a circulatiing fan inside. My musks from some years ago seemed to attract the local possums as they just love smelly things. Ate into the sides of several, and all the seeds were gone. I built a 'contraption' that works at night, senses motion, switches on floodlights and sounds a high pitched sound wavering from high audio to ultrasonic. It has prevented all possums from getting into my garden. Just before that, however, I caught 4 (a whole family!) of them in Hav-A-Hart traps and relocated them in more woods.

Wouldn't melon dry better and be easier to eat if cut in thin chips rather than cubes? Most of the dried fruit I see in stores is in the form of chips.

Jim

I supppose wafers, but a 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick would be about right. After drying the 1 inch cube would be about 1/2 inch.

I do watermelon all the time in my food dehydrator. It tastes like the Jolly Ranch candies. I would think that cantelope would work just as well. I would slice it very thin as I do the watermelon.

Linda

There is also fruit leathers

I'm so glad you brought up this subject. I dried some canteloupe last year for the first time - one cantaloupe cut in slices as a trial./ It was in my freezer and I had forgotten about it. It tastes fantastic - like a candy.
My husband grows the best cantaloupe/muskmelons - they are called Ambrosia. Unfortunately they tend to all get ripe in a short period of time. Glad I can use the drying method to preserve some.
The Ambrosias are so good - and are picked when ripe - that the store bought ones taste like gourds.

My mom tried drying green peppers som years ago. She cut them into thin 1/8 inch slices. Once dried, they shrank so much that about half had fallen through the fine grids of the dehydrator tray. Peppers oce dried shring to about 1/4 their original size or smaller.

I don't know what type of Musket melon/cantaloupe I grew, but it was amazing. So sweet and juicy. I got the seeds from a friend whose family has been growing this type for about 40 yrs. Their Grandfather grew this melon and sold them in our area for many years and even though he is gone now they plant these melons every year. They are the oblong ridged type of musket melon. Home grown melons are definitely better than anything you get at the grocery store! I had a good amount of fruit ripening for about a 3 week period and then nothing for awhile, and then a second wave of fruit.

One year, I had some ridiculous bumper crop of Charantais melons all ripe at once, and we dried at least two bushels. We tried making a purée and drying that like a fruit leather, but there is so much water that it just wasn't practical. So we peeled, seeded, and sliced in maybe 1" thick crescents, into the dehydrator, and they shrink down to next to nothing, a single bite. They dry in 24 hours, in this arid climate.

I found that while they're good, but they sure didn't taste much like the original melon. And they weren't all that popular with the kids, so I dunno...... I'd be more tempted to freeze more than dehydrate, next time.

And they also make wonderful crisp 'lime' pickles, following any recipe for watermelon rind pickles, and the flavor really comes through nicely.

Yes, a thin slice will be a tiny flake when dry, thats why I say a 1/2 inch thick or so. People don't realize how much water is in these, and whats left is barely visable if its cut too small initially.