strange fruit.

if it looks like a cantaloupe,
and it smells like a cantaloupe,
and there's cantaloupe taste on your taste buds,
you can bet your bottom buck,
it ain't no honeydew melon...

...or can you?!


I am currently obsessed with this melon. I'm so in love with it that I took nearly 25 incredibly uninteresting pictures of it, four of which you have the pleasure/pain of viewing here.

I love cantaloupe--the color, the flavor, the juice that always trickles down my chin, how wonderful it is paired with cottage cheese. So, when I saw this melon I bought it because I thought it was a cantaloupe. All outward signs [or "sihn", as paris hilton spells it these days] of look and smell pointed me logically towards that conclusion!



Imagine, then, how my eyes widened with absolute surprise upon cracking the sucker open only to reveal this:
A melon of green, not orange, flesh resembling that of a honeydew. I admit, I was somewhat dismayed to see this as I've always loved the green color but not so much the taste of the honeydew.



After seeing the innards, I was so convinced this thing was honeydew that upon eating a small bit I first tasted honeydew. Imagine, once again, my squeal of glee when the taste changed to cantaloupe flavor. Super! The brain is an amazing thing. It can totally trick and convince you into whatever you let it. Apparently, I am a weak willed person seeing as my brain definitely got the best of me. At least it was only a trick and the result was actually cantaloupey goodness.

With the first melon, I made a delicious mint 'n' melon tabbouleh. It was a gorgeous thing, much prettier than with orange cantaloupe but with the same superb taste!


I can't express enough how incredibly happy I am to have discovered this melon. Not only is it delicious, but it's that beautiful green color! The best of both sweet melon worlds! Additionally, with temperatures as they are these days--80s-90s--it is an incredibly refreshing snack.











Mmm. I love summer. I love strange fruit!