Cantaloupe

Toss sweet melon and crisp cukes in a bright coriander-cardamom dressing for a refreshing and delicious summer salad.

When shopping for this salad at the market, pick heavy, aromatic cantaloupes with stem ends that yield slightly when pressed.

A ripe cantaloupe is one of the most intoxicating pieces of produce under the sun—use it creatively.

Fresh cantaloupe + coconut make for the perfect summer cocktail.

This salty, sweet cantaloupe jam will put your go-to strawberry jam to shame.

I know, I know. This sounds crazy, right? Well, you just have to trust me on this one. The cantaloupe breaks down to form the backbone of a sweet, creamy sauce scented with pancetta and marjoram. A sleeper but a keeper, for sure.

Vegan The simplest saladitas in my repertoire are the ones that pair a single fruit with just one fresh herb. These are as flexible as they are easy. Extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon or lime juice, and salt and pepper are all optional. A small pile of Pickled Red Onions is always welcome on top. Make these shortly before serving.

Jeremiah Bacon, The Macintosh, Charleston, SC: "Infused simple syrup rounds out the flavor of cantaloupe for this quick dessert."

Chanterais melons, also called Cavaillon, are a delicious alternative to cantaloupes. Look for them at farmers’ markets and gourmet stores.

The steeping liquid needs to chill for at least 4 hours, so plan accordingly.

A summery salsa tops these simply prepared trout fillets. If trout isn’t available, serve the salsa with any other sautéed or grilled fish or with shrimp.

A combination of mango, cantaloupe, and banana creates a taste of paradise with just the swirling of the blender.

Should there be, one day in your life, both a handful of still-warm-from-the-tree ripe figs and the juice-dripping flesh of a melon, go quickly to find leaves of mint, some good green olive oil, and the juice of a lemon to make this little salad. Use only flawless components and arrange them for someone wonderful with whom to rhapsodize over it. You might, then, need heady, appropriate conversation. You could choose to speak of Platina—one Bartolomeo Sacchi—the Vatican librarian and author, in 1475, of Platine de Honestate Voluptate. The work’s argument concerns the history of Roman cuisine and was the first officially published cookbook since those written during the Republic. Or you might want to chatter a bit about Cantalupo in Sabina—the Singing Wolf of the Sabines—once a papal garden property outside the Roman walls where a strain of tiny, orange-fleshed melons were cultivated, they, no doubt, being the precursors to those we call cantaloupe. Perhaps you might choose not to speak at all, thus distracting nothing from the sweet little figs.

White Sangria is something you really want in the summertime when nothing is going on and it’s hot and very humid outside. We developed this recipe about six years ago and have loved it ever since. Highly suggested for afternoon gatherings and finger foods.

This salad looks like tricolore papardelle pasta, with vibrant ribbons of pink, green, and orange melon. If you don’t want to bother to make the melon shavings, just use a melon baller or cut the fruit in cubes; the salad will still be beautiful. This is one that both children and adults go nuts for, and the mint gives it an extra burst of freshness.

I like gazpacho, but the ultimate minimalist version—take a few tomatoes, a red pepper, some onion, oil, and vinegar, and whiz it in a blender—doesn’t always cut it for me. When I confessed this to my friend and sometime co-author Jean-Georges Vongerichten, he suggested I abandon tradition entirely and combine tomatoes with another fruit of the season: cantaloupe. These, combined with basil and lemon—in place of vinegar—produce the mildest, most delicious, creamiest gazpacho I’ve ever tasted. Make sure to use ripe cantaloupe and tomato at the height of the summer for the best results.

The unusual thing about many Mexican fruit drinks is that the seeds are included; they’re blended, so you don’t realize this until you watch them being made, but this is the reason for their wonderfully intense flavors. This procedure works well for cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, or other melon.

The best substitute for papaya here, believe it or not, is watermelon. Cantaloupe isn’t bad either. Serve this with any grilled meat, poultry, or fish.

Not only is this one of the simplest desserts to prepare—it’s also low in calories and virtually fat-free. Because it is so light and refreshing, it’s a perfect ending to a heavy meal.

In Italy, prosciutto and melon are combined in a traditional first course. Here, cool, silky bocconcini and torn mint leaves are added to make a refreshing salad—just the thing to begin a meal on a warm summer night.

I made this soup for Mama when I was in junior high. She had been going through a tough time and one day when she came home for lunch I had prepared a chilled cantaloupe soup out of Southern Living magazine. Even though I had always enjoyed cooking, I think that this slightly unusual soup caught her off guard. I wanted to make her feel better, and as it often does, homemade food made with love can make a dark day seem brighter.

This is another dish I swiped from the French. I was skeptical when I first saw it, but the combination of the cantaloupe, cucumber, tomato, and lime juice give it a fresh, clean flavor that is different from any salad I had ever tried before. Prosciutto is a delicious, thin, smoky Italian cured ham. If you can’t get it at your deli counter, get the smokiest ham they have and ask them to slice it as thin as possible.

My friend Susan Loomis says that finding a perfect melon is like finding love—you need to try many before you land just the right one. The best way to pick one (a melon, that is) is to find one that has lots of netting around the outside and a sweet and delicious smell. Follow those tips, and there’s no doubt that you’ll fall head over heels for this simple sorbet that makes excellent use of the fragrant melons that are available during the summer months.