In response to a question on another thread about what to do with all those melons everyone is harvesting now, here's a couple of recipes.

For some of the recipes, cantaloupe, muskmelons, honeydews, etc. work best but I've also used watermelon in some of those recipe. In other recipes, only a specific melon is used, like Watermelon rind pickles.

MELON SOUP

6 lbs. of the melon of your choice, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks

2 C. orange juice

2 T. lime juice

Combine the above ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree together. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

To serve, pour into bowls.

If you want to make it look pretty, dice up melons (this is especially pretty with red, green and orange melons combined in the dice) in a small dice and sprinkle them onto the top of the soup after you pour it into bowls.

MELON SALAD

1 8-10 lb. watermelon

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

salt, to taste

black pepper, to taste

vinagrette dressing of your choice

Cut melon flesh into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Stir in the thinly sliced onions and mix well. Drizzle with the vinagrette dressing of your choice and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix well and chill in fridge. Immediately before serving remove from fridge and drain off excess dressing.

MELON SORBET

Cut up a melon of your choice and puree it in your blender or food processor. Puree enough to give you 3 1/2 cups of puree. Combine the puree with 1 1/2 cups of simple syrup that you've made up previously. Add 1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Pour into your ice cream machine and freeze for about 20 minutes. For an especially impressive presentation, garnish with mint leaves, edible flowers or a couple of sliced berries.

CINNAMON WATERMELON RIND PICKLES--makes 5-6 pints.

16 cups watermelon rind

1 cup pickling or canning salt

8 cups cool water, divided

6 cups granulated sugar

4 cups white vinegar

3 cinnamon sticks (each about 4" long, broken in half)

DAY #1: First, prepare your watermelon rind by removing the dark green peel from the outside of the rind and discarding it. Take the remaining rind and cut it into 2" x 1" slieces/

In a large crock, glass or stainless steel bowl, layer the watermelon rind and salt. Add 4 cups of cool water and then place an inverted plate on top of the rind and weigh it down with 2 or 3 qt. canning jars filled with water and capped. Cover the container with plastic wrap or a clean towel and refrigerate overnight or for a minimum of 8 hours.

DAY 2:

1. Transfer watermelon rind to a colander placed over a sink. Drain and rinse in cool, running water. Drain and rinse again. Drain thoroughly.

2. In a large stainless steel saucepan combine the rind with 4 cups cool water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently until the rind feels fork-tender. This should take about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. In a clean large stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar, vinegar and cinnamon stick halves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes which allows cinnamon to infuse the liquid with its flavor. After 5 minutes, add the well-drained watermelon rind to the saucepan and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally for 1 hour, until the watermelon rind is transluscent. At the end of the hour, remove cinnamon sticks.

4. Pour into prepared and heated jars.

5. Pack the heated watermelon rind into the heated jars to within slightly under 1/2" of the top of the jar. Then, ladle the pickling liquid into the jars, leaving 1/2" of headspace. Wipe rims, center lids on jars and screw bands down until you meet resistance and then tighten the lids to finger-tight.

6. Place jars in a canner and cover them completely with water. Bring to a boil and then process in boiling water, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove lid from canner and wait 5 minutes before removing jars from canner. Remove jars and place them on towels on counter top. Let cool and then store.

ZESTY WATERMELON JELLY--makes about 5 jelly jars (8 oz. ea.) full

6 cups chopped watermelon with the rind removed

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar, white wine or apple cider vinegar

4 T. lemon juice

5 C. granulated sugar

1 stem lemongrass, chopped

2 3-oz. packets liquid pectin

1. In a large stainless steel saucepan, crush the watermelon with a potato masher or something similar. Cover and heat gently over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and throughly crush melon.

2. Transfer to a dampened jally bag or a strainer lined with several layers of dampened cheesecloth set over a deep bowl. Let melon drip, undisturbed, for 2 hours. Measure 2 cups of watermelon juice. If you don't have two cups, crush more watermelon, or you can substitute up to 1/4 cup of unsweetened white grape juice.

3. Meanwhile, prepare your jars and lids in accordance with established canning practices.

4. Transfer the watermelon juice to a large clean stainless steel saucepan. Add the vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and lemongrass. Bring to a full, rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly, and bring to a full, rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir in pectin and boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 full minute. Remove from heat and quickly skim off the foam.

5. Quickly pour your hot jelly into the hot jars, and leave 1/4" headspace. Wipe rims, center lid on jar and screw down band to fingertip-tightness.

6. Place jars in your canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Cover canner with lid. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes before removing jars from canner and placing them on towels on countertop. Cool. Store.

CANTALOUPE (MUSKMELON) PICKLES--makes about six pint jars.

1 4" cinnamon stick, broken into pieces

2 whole cloves

1 t. whole allspice

3 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

13 cups seeded peeled cantaloupes (muskmelons) cut into 1" cubes

4 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1. Tie cinnamon stick pieces, cloves and allspice in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag.

2. In a large stainless steel saucepan combine the vinegar, water and spice bag. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Add melon to saucepan. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

4. After 30 minutes has passed stir sugar into melon mixture and return to burner set on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil, stirring occasionally, until melon becomes transluscent--about 45 minutes. Discard spice bag.

5. Meanwhile, prepare canning jars and lids.

6. Pack cantaloupe into jars leaving just over a half-inch of headspace. Then ladle hot syrup over melon to cover cantaloupe and leave 1/2" of headspace. Remove air bubbles, if necessary, and adjust headspace if needed by adding more hot syrup. Wipe rim. Center lid on jars and screw on bands until fingertip tight.

7. Place jars in canner, cover jars with water and put lid on canner. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes. Remove jars from canner and place on towels on countertop. Cool. Store.

QUICK PICKLED WATERMELON (ready to eat same day)

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon whole fennel seeds

1/4 teaspoon crushed coriander seeds

pinch of pickling salt

1 bay leaf

4 cups watermelon flesh, red part only (no rind), seeded and cut into pieces about 1 1/2" x 3/4"x 3/4".

1. In a nonreactive saucepan,combine all the ingredients except the watermelon. Over medium heat, bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Remove pan from heat and allow syrup to cool down to room temperature.

2. Put the watermelon pieces into a dish wide enough to hold all of them in a single layer. Strain the cooled liquid over the melon Let the melon stand for 20 minutes. Drain off the liquid.

3. Chill melon for at least 1 hour and for no more than 4 hours before serving.

This yields about 4 cups.

You can use this recipe to 'flavor up' and use a watermelon that was picked too soon.

You can substitute tarragon or fresh ginger for the fennel and bay leaf.

CANTALOUPE/MUSKMELON MOUSSE

1/2 large or 1 small ripe, sweet cantaloupe, seeded and with rind removed

Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

2 teaspoons chopped, fresh mint

A pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin

3/4 cup heavy cream

2 small cantaloupes, halved, seeded and chilled

Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

1. In a food processor or blender puree the peeled and seeded melon until smooth. Measure 1 cup of puree into a bowl and add the lemon juice, choped mint and salt and mix well. Let stand at room temperature for 1-3 hours so flavors can blend, then press through a fine sieve or strainer using the back of a wooden spoon or spatula.

2. Transfer strained puree to a saucepan. Sprinkle with the unflavored gelatin and allow to stand 2 or 3 minutes. Place the saucepan over low heat and stir until gelatin is fully dissolved. Pour mixture into a medium bowl and refrigerate until cooled and just slightly thickened, about 12 to 15 minutes.

3. In a small pre-chilled bowl, beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold one-fourth of the whipped cream into the melon puree. Stir gently. Then, add remaining whipped cream and gently blend. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, uncovering bowl to gently fold ingredients together at least twice during that time.

4. To prepare for serving, mound the mousse into the 4 chilled cantaloupe halves, garnish with mint leaves and serve.

Hope these recipes give y'all some ideas for using up and enjoying all those melons.

Dawn