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Featured Ingredient - Cantaloupes
Rate it! Votes (0) | Comments (0) By Cheri Sicard Posted August 6th, 2007 FabulousFoods.com Recommends: Ripe for Dessert: 100 Outstanding Desserts with Fruit--Inside, Outside, Alongside, by David Lebovitz, (2003, William Morrow Cookbooks)	Ripe for Dessert: 100 Outstanding Desserts with Fruit--Inside, Outside, Alongside

One of summer's favorite fruits, cantaloupe originated in Asia. European settlers brought the first ones to America. A true cantaloupe has a smooth surface, the melons we typically call cantaloupes int he United States are actually Musk Melons, but the two can be used interchangeably.

These melons pack a nutritional powerhouse with a single serving provising 80% of your dailey recommended allowances for Vitamins A and C. Best of all, they;re fat and cholesterol free and very low in calories (about 50 calories for about 1/4 of a small melon.

Tips for Choosing the Best Cantaloupe

• Look for a nice rounded shape.
• Golden colored melons are at the peak of ripeness.
• Green melons will ripen at room temperature in a couple of days.
• Choose a cantaloupe with evenly distributed "netting" or the markings on the fruit's surface.
• If your melon has a stem or rough stem area, the cantaloupe may have been harvested too early and may lack sweetness.
• Cantaloupe is grown on soil, so you may see a slightly whitened area on one side of the cantaloupe which does not affect the quality of the product.
• A ripe cantaloupe should give off a mild melon aroma.

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