Cantaloupe

When treatment side effects dry out the body—and believe me, that’s a fairly common occurrence—granitas come to the rescue. Granitas are similar to Italian ices in consistency, which makes them great for people with mouth sores, and melons are full of water, so they’re great for rehydration. In fact, melons in any form are a wonderful source of fluids and nutrients. Eaten on an empty stomach (and that’s the best way to consume them, as they can cause an awful lot of tummy rumbling when combined with other food), melons require little stomach action and go right into the small intestine, allowing quick absorption of their nutrients. And here’s a fun fact: Cantaloupes are named after the Italian town Cantalupo, which means “howl of the wolf.” No telling if there’s a run on cantaloupes there whenever the moon is full …

Requiring no cooking and no blending, this soup takes full advantage of the lush fruits of midsummer.

It takes minutes to make this sweet soup. Try serving it after a meal rather than before—it’s a wonderful palate cooler after a spicy meal. Or it can be the main event at lunch on a hot summer day, served with blueberry muffins.

A perfect dessert soup to make in July, when melons are at their sweetest. This makes a refreshing finish to a grilled meal.

This recipe was born out of leftovers—a half cantaloupe, a handful of strawberries, some grapes—not enough in themselves to feed a family, but combine them and you have a great dessert. Feel free to substitute with your favorite fruit or whatever you happen to have as leftovers. The sweetened wine and the fresh mint meld the fruit flavors together into a wonderfully refreshing, quick, and easy recipe. Perfect for summertime.

This is a new way to serve the classic combination of prosciutto with melon, one of Italians’ famously favorite ways to start a meal. You could pierce the prosciutto purses with toothpicks to make them easier to eat. And to make the preparation easier, be sure to place the block of Parmesan in the freezer for a few minutes, so that when you shave it, it won’t crumble.

Everyone seems to love this simple combination of clean, fresh flavors. If watermelon is not in season you can substitute cantaloupe, but for a burst of pure flavor that really plays off the herbal flavor of the tomatoes, you can’t beat watermelon. Stacking the skewers vertically and serving them upright looks especially elegant.

How it fights fat Prosciutto's protein helps build calorie-blasting lean muscle, and the fiber in melon begins to fill you up so you can slow down and savor the next two delicious courses but not overdo it. Now that's a smart start!

I thrive on discovering new flavor combinations, and Sea is a great example of a totally thrown together idea that worked out beautifully. That day I was really in the mood for some crab salad, but I wanted to do something untraditional. One of my purveyors had sent me some Tuscan cantaloupe to try, so I first made a melon emulsion. Then I tossed the crabmeat with my Colvin Vinaigrette (which is basically good on anything). I thought that avocado would be great with the melon, so I started with a little melon on the plate, then I layered sliced ripe avocado and the crab mixture with a huge quenelle of caviar I had on hand to top it all off. Honestly, it was like heaven. I had so much crab that I made two mini ones for my two friends downstairs, and they were like, "What the hell is this flavor combination? This is amazing!" Give it a try—it's elegant and just incredibly good.

I've been eating fruit for breakfast for what seems like forever, and I'm pretty tired of your average fruit cup. So this salad is a play on a breakfast fruit salad—complete with that breakfast classic pork (parma) and a wonderful kick from chile flakes that'll definitely get you on your toes early in the morning.

When I was growing up, my mom would cut up fresh fruit and arrange it on a plate with a shot glass full of toothpicks. She would also toss fresh fruit with some orange or lime juice and sugar. Taking inspiration from her, I came up with my own version: lime, lemon, a little maple syrup, and an herb syrup with rosemary or mint.
Cut your fruit into chunks rather than into small pieces; I find that small pieces of fruit get mealy and mushy. Make the salad the morning you're going to serve it, but if you're determined to make it the night before, cut up the fruit, store it in separate containers, and then toss it together in the morning. Use whatever fruit you'd like (bananas, apples, berries—the possibilities are endless), but unless you're using the ripest, sweetest seasonal fruit, add a little sugar.

Sold at Mexican street stands in large, clear barrels—the better to show off their festive colors—agua frescas, or "fresh waters," can be made with all kinds of fruits and herbs, the riper the better. Here, Feniger tops a traditional cantaloupe cooler with a decorative swirl of vivid beet purée. Roasting the beet heightens its sweetness and intensifies its color.

Time to dust off that bottle of cream Sherry lurking in the back of your liquor cabinet: Its nutty, plummy nature rounds out the flavor of the melon, and its alcohol content helps produce a granita that feels smoother, less icy, on the tongue.

Mexican aguas frescas, or "fresh waters," made from all kinds of fresh fruit, flowers, or herbs, are a great way to beat the heat. This cantaloupe version gets additional vim from a splash of club soda.

A semifreddo is an Italian soft-frozen custard mousse. Grappa, which is floral and just a little edgy, bumps the musky, intoxicating sweetness of the melon up a notch.

Editor's note: This refreshing soup is part of a healthy and delicious spa menu developed exclusively for Epicurious by CuisinArt Resort & Spa on Rendezvous Bay in Anguilla. Cooling cucumber and melons—which are in the same botanical family—are good sources of a wide range of nutrients, including vitamins C and B6 and folate. Fresh herbs provide a burst of flavor as well as powerful antioxidants. Ginger, garlic, and hot sauce have potent anti-inflammatory properties. Starting your meal with a low-calorie, fiber-rich soup like this one can help fill you up and prevent overeating. Note: You can substitute cooked lobster or prawns for the shrimp, or make the recipe vegetarian by omitting the seafood altogether.

After such a substantial meal, you'll want to keep things light for dessert. A little fancier than a fruit salad yet almost as easy, this cool combination of musky cantaloupe and honeydew gets an unexpected fillip from icy granita. Don’t worry if the granita melts faster than you expect—it will slump into a lovely sauce over the fruit.

Don't throw those melon seeds away. It's a traditional Mexican technique to use the seeds as a thickener, and here they work their magic in a coulis, adding effortless panache to a straightforward and wonderfully light dessert.

Rosé wine with fresh fruit adds the right touch to this spiced-up menu.

Briggs takes iron-rich lean beef to another level by topping this steak with cantaloupe, one of the best sources of vitamin A, a nutrient that keeps your skin and eyes at their healthiest.

Be sure to start this recipe at least 1 1/2 hours ahead so the components have time to cool. Mix up the syrup and chill it until it's cold. Cut the melons into wedges and refrigerate them in plastic containers. Then, just before you leave, chop the mint and stir it into the syrup, then drizzle the syrup over the fruit.

Ensalada de jícama con melón Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Fonda San Miguel: Thirty Years of Food and Art, by Tom Gilliland, Miguel Ravago, and Virginia B. Wood. For more on Cinco de Mayo, click here. Chef Miguel Ravago also shared some helpful tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. Although many fresh condiments in Mexican cuisine are called pico de gallo ("rooster's beak"), this refreshing salad from the Mexican state of Jalisco is known as Pico de Gallo. Depending on the seasonal availability of fresh fruit, Miguel has found that the salad is equally good made with Rio Star grapefruit, pineapple, blood oranges, cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew melon. The contrast of sweet fruit, crunchy jícama, tangy lime juice, and a little dash of chili powder makes for a delightful palate cleanser.