Mystery Melons

Mixed Melon Bowl

We are fortunate to have a local certified Farmer's Market that provides fresh produce and food every Sunday, fall through spring. We live in the desert so unlike other places that get this privilege through the summer, it's just too hot for them to come our way.  

One of the best things about this market is the samples. They always have samples to test the fruit and I am always surprised to discover new tasty treats. 

Last week I discovered these little beauties and although they had them marked as "melon and papaya," I was not able to get the actual names. I figured I could look them up online but after much searching, I was disappointed. I can't identify them.  Maybe someone reading this knows their names?  I'll also try to ask again at the market this weekend. The sellers were asian so perhaps they are a type of asian melons? 

Whatever they are called they are delicious!!!

This melon is about the size of a soft ball.

It's very sweet. Sort of like a sweeter version of a honeydew. 

This one they called a papaya.

It tastes like a melon with almost a slight flavor of a cucumber. Very mild.

We are also fortunate to have little watermelons around this fall so I thought the three of them would make a nice melody of flavors.

And I was right. 

 These three little melons made a really lovely Thanksgiving breakfast.

I hope this encourages you to break out of the usual and open up to the idea of trying something new. Even if you don't have a local farmer's market, I have learned that if you ask your produce person about something new and different, most will be happy to slice one open and let you sample it. 

There's a whole big produce world out there. Go explore!

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for the bounty that nature provides us

and for readers like you. 

Watermelon and Lime- Ice Pops and Aqua Fresca

It's not often that flowers inspire something to eat but when I picked up these flowers and starting shaping this arrangement I realized how much I love the colors of watermelon and lime together. They are both cheery as well as refreshing and cool. The more I thought about it, the more my mouth watered.

Since there doesn't seem to be an end in sight yet to the hot weather, I've decided to keep focusing on recipes that will help cool us off. Watermelon and lime are two perfect examples of fruit that do that well.

So here is a recipe that makes a wonderful ice pop as well as a refreshing and tasty drink over ice.

Watermelon and Lime Ice Pops

Watermelon and Lime Ice Pops

Forget the store bought who knows what is in them type popsicles and look no further than your produce department to make your own ice pops.

Recipe

*  About 4 cups of fresh watermelon
   (I left the seeds in)

*  Juice of one lime

*  A big squeeze of Agave Nectar
   (maybe 1- 2 Tbsp) depending on        the sweetness of the melon you         have

*  1/4 cup water (optional)

*   Pinch of sea salt



Blend all in a blender and pour into mold

Using the molds pictured, I filled almost to the top, leaving about 1/4 inch at the top for expansion. This keeps the liquid from sticking to the top.

I placed the top in place and let the pops freeze for about 2 hours.

Then I placed the sticks into the mold. This keeps the sticks from either floating up or sinking all the way to the bottom.

I chose to use the kind of molds with sticks, as opposed to the ones with the plastic sticks so that I could remove from mold when done, store and reuse the molds.

After frozen solid, let thaw a few minutes and pull from molds.

Now if you don't want to freeze this into pops, you can just pour it over ice and enjoy it as

Watermelon and Lime Aqua Fresca

Enjoy!