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Pickled Cantaloupe
(You just might like it!)
Choosing a good cantaloupe can be a guessing game, right? You poke it . . smell it . . . look at its color. But then when you eagerly cut it open, you're sometimes disappointed it's not sweet and flavorful. Maybe it was cut too soon--but you can't undo that. Find information here on choosing melons Or maybe it just never would have been the best of cantaloupes. Don't waste it! Instead, pickle it! In fact, I don't wait to make pickled cantaloupe until I get one that isn't perfect. I buy cantaloupes for the specific purpose of pickling them. Back home on the farm, my mother would plant cantaloupe in the garden. Many, many of them would ripen at the same time--far too many for us to eat before they spoiled. I can still picture a huge pile of cantaloupes on our porch. Mom would urge relatives and visitors to p-l-e-a-s-e take some cantaloupes home with them. But there would still be many left. So we pickled and canned them, to preserve them. What a treat in the middle of winter when snow was on the ground!
Recipe for Pickled Cantaloupe 1 cantaloupe, peeled and sliced (Best if it's not overripe.) 1 cup sugar 2 cups water 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tsp salt Cook on medium heat until cantaloupe is soft (about 15 minutes). Delicious warm or cold! Because of the acidity of the vinegar, pickled cantaloupe will keep for weeks in the refrigerator. Or, it can be canned so you have some to eat all year long until cantaloupes are in season again. Click for more Pennsylvania Dutch Recipes
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