How to Pick a Ripe Cantaloupe or Honeydew Melon | Giant Eagle 

The man in the video has some very good tips on finding a ripe melon. But today, that may be one in fifty ! I worked at a produce stand summers when I was a kid in Revere Mass.. The old Italian man that owned the stand taught me many things fruits and vegetables. Especially "melons". He showed me how to pick melons for sale at the stand from the wholesalers at the docks near Boston Harbor. The one thing that stuck with me is, a melon, no matter what type will "never" ripen or become more sweet than the day it was picked. That's the problem today. The buyers for the Supermarket chains are buying fruit that is not ripe. They do that so it will last longer on the produce departments shelves. The fruit looks nice, but that's about it ! You buy it, take it home, cut it open and it sucks ! No flavor, definitely no sweetness and hard or mealy inside ! I even get fooled by some items and I consider myself somewhat of a semi expert. The melons that are picked before they should be, will look nice on the shelf for a very long time. But the only thing that will happen after a time is they will start to wilt, get dimples on them turn soft and rot without ever getting ripe or sweet ! Another thing the old man taught me was, how to sell. He let me wait on my first customer, a nice young lady. She picked out a couple of items and I bagged them for her and asked if that was all. The old man took me aside and said "never ask if that's all" ! Always ask "what else" and show them something good !

When scraping the seeds, etc from the center, I put it in my bird feeder (the flat not the cylinder or gravity-fed kind). They love it.

There are few videos that I like as much as this presentation. Thank you so much for your time and sincerity!

This is great. Usually when I buy a honey dew, I end up waiting for 3 weeks for it to ripen. Now I know better. Thanks

Washing the fruit before putting it on your cutting board. I’ve always done this for fear of bacterial contamination. This is the first video I’ve ever seen that mentions washing the fruit.👍🏻

Now if I can just remember when shopping. Thanks great tips.

Thank you. I have a new found addiction to cantaloupes. 💞😌

I drooled all over my shirt watching this!! Lol...thanks for the tips :)

I shared this with most my friend and my kids on fb this is a very useful video AGAIN THANK YOU!!!! ❤️

Clear, well presented and very helpful.

Terrific audio quality, John! I'd love for you to master my next record. Thanks!

That was done so well. Thank you.

Thank you I had always difficulties to pick the right ones. Now I will get what is the best

Thank you for sharing this information 😊

I like the way you show us ,quick fast , easy unlike other take too long

Thank you for all your tips. New ideas how to cut it up too

So I’ve been cutting melons all wrong for yearrrs! This looks so much easier and the likelihood of cutting myself seems greatly diminished. I love learning tricks and hacks. Thank you so much for this video! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😊

Thanks for the tips👍🏻

THANKS FOR SHARING.

I've had luck with cantaloupe just buying one at random and setting it in my window until the skin looks like it is starting to shrivel ever so slightly. Always tastes good.

I grow cantaloupes in my home garden. The plants themselves give off that scent of sweet cantaloupe flavor as you move past them or brush against them!

By happenstance, I clicked on this video. That man educated me. Good job!

I always smell mine. If it smells ripe, it is. Can't use that technique for watermelons though. I was so happy to watch your recent video on how to pick a good one. Thank you!!

Great information!

damn! wish you would have told me that thirty years ago! much appreciated.

Thank you for this I was craving a cantaloupe so bad so I bought one but it was pale in color on the inside and hard! Was gross so thank you for this I never new how to pick this! Also turnips I'll have to look up.

Great tips

Thank you

Thanks. Helpful..

Love this, thank you heaps 😉

Thank you.

The problem is the entire batch are usually from the same pick, and are unripe

Thanks for the tips. :)

Honeydew smoothie is amazing as well

Thank you very much this was neat

Damn bruh, I'm sorry to hear this sad news. You and your wife are such amazing people that your babe must have been an angel that God wanted by his side.. My thoughts, condolences, and compassion go out to you and your wife and family members. You have great mental strength. I'm lost for words. God bless, he does things to make us stronger.

Nice thanks for the info

Thanks 🙏

My momma always makes me smell them❤️❤️❤️❤️

I have been using the sniff technique for decades I always get odd looks from other shoppers but I can tell you I have yet to buy an unripe mellon.

Oh my both of them are so good very delicious

This should be titled, HOW TO CUT A MELON. 😍

You are professional and brilliant

So true !!!!!

good instructions !

Thank u

Great tips, thank you! Hollow sound when you knock doesn't apply to these?

Where can I get those knives? I'd really like some!

That’s one pretty cantaloupe ❤

Cantolope smoothie is amazing Almond milk instead or cow milk

Very helpful cause I've always picked up not ripe honey dew melons.

I like Rose Nylund's method.

had a knife much like the one you're using at the 1:00 mark but lots it during a move can you tell me what kind of knife it is or how it's called so I can replace it

THANKS YOU GOODNESS 🌟, LOVELY BEAUTIFUL C... DAPHNE COTTON ALWAYS 💜 AWESOME

I like to take a nice ripe cantaloupe, cut it in half, spoon out the seeds, salt and pepper the fruit and eat it with a spoon. Yumm!

It's the side opposite the stem side that gets soft and not vice versa. That looked like the side opposite the stem side at 0:35 to me. The stem side will never be soft. If you wait for the stem side to get soft, it will be rotten on the inside before that ever happens. P.S. I've grown every melon you can possibly name.

Why is it so satisfying to watch you cut fruit? Lol Thank you for the information!

Wow 😲 That cantaloupe was so orange I've never seen one so orange before!

I need to get me a fillet knife like that I never seen melon skin cut so fast and smooth..

My Daddy taught me to shake a cantaloupe. If you can hear the seeds shake , it's a good one.

I could those 'til the cows come home. Yum

Yo quiero en español la explicacion

Good vid. Sound is a bit too soft, but doable.

Why am I at the store watching this to see which is ripe Lol omg

I always smell the honeydew melon 🍈 if it has a sweet Milky aroma its gold!!

My goats would love to eat the left-over peels and seeds! BeeehhhHEh!

I pick mine when the vine almost detaches itself from the cantaloupe. Slice it in half garden side and flip out the seeds onto an empty spot in the garden. I cut wedges from the half I'm going to eat first one at a time then slide a thin blade 🔪 knife along side the skin side of the wedge cutting almost to the other end of the wedge. Next I slice off bite size pieces of cantaloupe one at a time then sticking the knife tip into the loose piece on the peeling and them slide that juicy yummy melon right into my mouth.

Now all I need to do is get out of the house. 😂😂. #quarantine

♥️

keeps his wedding ring shiny

I like to tell if melons are ripe&cantilope because I like to eat these fruits for a snack& breakfast

When honey dew is actually ripe and full sweet and softer texture as opposed to crunchy, the flesh is white. This honeydew does not look ripe. Honeydew is my favorite melon by far, when ripe! When mostly green flesh they are nearly inedible. Totally different experience.

melon nice

I usually take a knife and cut a piece out of them. Easier to tell if they are ripe that way.

There’s none of them like that in the store. They all very green , never got ripe one.

Do melons continue to ripen after buying?

The ones from the supermarkets are very rarely ripe! They mostky stay hard, no taste. And if you wait, till they "ripen", then they usually foul before ripening! I remember, 50 years ago they where always tasty and ripe! Nowadays I do not buy any since they mostly turn into a waste of money! WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO THEM? Pick them too early out of greed? Or what?

I never buy honey dew or melon until yesterday and I cut into it and it was hard like a rock and not beautiful color like yours lessened learned 🤣🤣

That Honey Dew, and White Gourd Together 🤔

❤️👍❤️👍❤️👍❤️👍❤️👍

What kind of knives are you using? They look like they cut really easily through the melon 🍉!

Hi

Good luck finding one that hasn’t been dropped/bounced it otherwise abused before it gets to us.

When I was young I was embarrassed when my mother would smell things. She would tell me if it doesn’t smell good, it won’t taste good………she was soooooo right !!

Pick two Honedew melons that are almost the same in looks and size , then take one and smash it on the concrete floor of the Supermarket ,when it splits open taste it , if it sweet than buy the other one .

Seems like a lot of the good stuff was lost when you cut off the outer layer. Would a fruit peeler work better?

No you do not want to push on the end of the cantaloupe because all you will do is burse it the best way to pick your cantaloupe is a good yellow color and and a great smell. That's all you need to do.

How do I choose a ripe mango? Would love to know.

I have never seen in a store a cantaloupe that was not green so there is no choosing. The only golden cantaloupe I have ever seen was in my garden, but by the time it got that way the pests had already invaded. I suppose this is why commercially they are always green and unappetizing. Where can I buy a ripe cantaloupe?

I bought one from Aldi an it was completely rotten inside 😢

You can still buy them and wait for them to ripen

Is the green one more tasty? orange doesnt do it for me I can't bear to eat it

Cantaloupe is all about the width of the vains.

The Honeydew Melon That I Bought Looked Yellow

Honeydo's have a waxy feel when ripe and are yellowish. If it is dry on the outside and white, "fahget it"!

Till' you start to cut it.

As a person who has picked fruits and veggies nation wide as a teenager roaming the country. I can tell you, they NEVER pick ripe fruit and veggies. If the did, I would be rotten before it hit the store shelves.

Sheesh; What a SHOW OFF!😉 To top it all off, he uses a "hand model"?! 🤣🤣 TBH, nice video. Thanks for the tips.💯

I sniff the melon too, I always get weird looks when I do it

good tips as far as picking the right fruit goes. But man, one sure could do the peeling and slicing in a far less wasteful manner ...perhaps not in professional settings like restaurants etc because you are hard pressed for time, but definitely at home.