Mystery Melon

The plant of the day for Fructidor 7 is the sugar melon or sucrion. It seems like it should be easy to figure out exactly what that is but all I learned from an hour of Internet searching was that the “sugar melon” is the name for a variety of cantaloupe. Then I found this fantastic web site (the true glory of the Internet) which lists names in every language for members of the melon family:
http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Cucumis.html#melo-inodorus

If I read this correctly, then the sucrion is a honeydew or a Crenshaw melon. So I went to the local high-class grocery store on my lunch break and found a plethora of melons: the usual honeydews, cantaloupes and watermelons plus Crenshaws and Canaris. I bought a nice 7 pound Crenshaw. It was ripe, based on the smell, the most accurate way to assess the ripeness of a melon according to my research. (I hold the stem portion up to my nose and sniff.) I would have done a taste test on several different melons but they were too heavy to carry back to work along with cupcakes for a co-worker’s birthday. The Crenshaw was interesting in flavor. More watery than a cantaloupe, and lighter in color too, but with a more cantaloupe-like flavor than a honeydew.

That reminded me of an article in Martha Stewart’s magazine on heritage melons. I went looking for it online at her web site and found this easy recipe for melon sorbet:
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel191822&catid=cat19294&navLevel=3
Plus this interesting recipe for mix and match melon soup (warning: which comes with an annoying ad complete with music):
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe1800&catid=cat21329&navLevel=

I also found a link to Amy Goldman, who has a web site featuring heirloom melons
http://www.rareforms.com/
and a book about heirloom melons:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&isbn=1579652131

I’m still not sure which melon is a sucrion but this search has certainly opened my eyes (and my taste buds) to new possibilities.