What can be prepared from a melon, how to choose a ripe one and serve it beautifully to the table. Melon Dishes - Desserts and Snacks

Prosciutto e melone is a popular Italian appetizer, one of the varieties of antipasta, the preparation of which is as simple as everything ingenious. A dish of prosciutto ham and melon can be seen both on the menu of an expensive restaurant and in an ordinary trattoria. But in each institution it has its own special taste. After all, it all depends on the nuances: melon varieties, spices and even serving. Here is one of the variations.

Ingredients

• 1 small melon (cantaloupe is better);
• 150 g prosciutto;
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil;
• 100 g of arugula;
• salt, ground black pepper and other spices to taste.

Cooking

Cut the melon into chunks large enough to wrap around the ham slices. Lay the rolls on the arugula leaves, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with spices. Let stand for a while and serve.

The appetizer will look even more impressive if the melon pulp is formed into balls using a noisette (an ice cream spoon and a measuring spoon will also work).

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Want to treat your loved ones to something unusual at a picnic? How about melon in honey mint sauce?

Ingredients

• 1 small cantaloupe;
• 100 g butter;
• ½ cup honey;
• sprigs of mint.

Cooking

Dissolve butter and honey in a saucepan. Cut the mint and add to the creamy honey mass so that it gives off flavor. Brush the melon chunks with this and grill them for 3-5 minutes. During the roasting process, you can continue to water the melon with honey-mint sauce.

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Usually, tomatoes are the main ingredient in this Spanish cold soup. But imagine how surprised your friends will be when they see an unusual yellow-orange gazpacho on the table.

Ingredients

• 1 small melon (1–1.5 kg);
• 1 small fresh cucumber;
• 1 small red onion;
• 2 teaspoons of salt;
• ½ cup olive oil;
• ⅓ cup of water;
• freshly ground black pepper to taste;
• a few sprigs of mint.

Cooking

Peel the cucumber and onion and finely chop. Do the same with the melon pulp (don't forget to remove the seeds). For this recipe, it is better to use mid-season varieties like "collective farmer".

Using a blender or food processor, grind it all into a puree, adding water and salt. When the mass becomes homogeneous, add olive oil and freshly ground pepper. Mix everything thoroughly again.

Serve chilled gazpacho, garnished with mint sprigs.

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This is a light summer salad that will surprise guests not only with taste, but also with beauty.

Ingredients

• 700 g of white musk melon;
• 1 fennel bulb and some stems
• 1 teaspoon orange peel;
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice;
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice;
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil;
• pitted olives;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Cooking

You already know how to create culinary masterpieces with the help. She can also cut white melon and fennel into thin layers, which will look very impressive in a salad.

In addition to white (or, as it is also called, winter) melon, you can use green hybrid and other varieties with dense pulp.

Mix orange and lemon juice with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Pour the resulting dressing over the melon and fennel slices. Add coarsely chopped olives. Sprinkle the salad with orange zest and chopped fennel stalks.

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This original summer appetizer can change the idea of ​​a melon. In combination with spicy ginger and refreshing mint, its taste takes on completely different shades.

Ingredients

• 1 small melon (about 1 kg);
• 1 lime;
• 1 tablespoon of grated ginger;
• 1 tablespoon of honey;
• 1 teaspoon of sugar;
• sprigs of mint.

Cooking

The cantaloupe variety is best suited for this dish, but if there is no such melon, then other varieties can be used, only without the addition of sugar.

Peel the melon pulp from the seeds and put it in a deep plate. It will be beautiful if you make the balls with a noisette. Sprinkle lime zest on top and drizzle with juice. Chop the mint and sprinkle it over the melon. Add ginger, sugar and honey. Stir.

Keep in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, the melon should absorb the taste and aroma of other ingredients. Ready! Can be served at the table.

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We talked about how many delicious dishes can be prepared from. Here's one more.

Ingredients

• 1 small eggplant (300–350 g);
• 900 g melon;
• ¼ cup olive oil;
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce;
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar;
• 2 teaspoons of salt;
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika;
• 1½ teaspoons cumin;
• toothpicks or skewers.

Cooking

Cut the eggplant into thin strips. Marinate them for 10 minutes in a mixture of olive oil, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, cane sugar, salt, cumin and smoked paprika.

Smoked paprika is dried and smoked red pepper powder. Its difference from the usual one is that, in addition to spiciness, it has a bright aroma of smoked meats. If the house does not have this seasoning, you can use regular red ground pepper.

When the eggplants are marinated, fry them on the grill - just a couple of minutes on each side.

For these rolls, a musk melon variety is well suited. Cut the fruit into three-centimeter cubes. Wrap each of them with a strip of eggplant and secure the roll with a skewer or toothpick.

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In the usual sense, charlotte is a pie with apples. But its taste can be diversified if you use a melon with dense pulp.

Ingredients

• 4 small pieces of melon;
• 1⅓ cup flour;
• ½ cup sugar;
• 2 tablespoons of cane sugar;
• 1 glass of kefir;
• 2 eggs;
• 1 teaspoon baking powder;
• 1.5 g vanillin;
• cinnamon on the tip of a knife.

Cooking

Using a mixer or a whisk, beat the eggs with sugar, then carefully pour in the kefir and mix thoroughly again. Add dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and vanilla) and pour the dough into a silicone mold.

If apples are placed down, then it is better to spread the melon on top of the dough. To do this, cut it into thin slices. Sprinkle the top of the cake with cane sugar and cinnamon. Bake for half an hour at 200°C.

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Granita is a dessert of Sicilian origin, similar to sorbet, only looser. Melon granita flavored with black pepper is an unexpected combination even for a sophisticated gourmet.

Ingredients

• 1 small cantaloupe (about 1 kg)
• ½ cup sugar;
• ¼ cup white nutmeg wine;
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

Cooking

Melon pulp, along with wine and pepper, must be brought to a puree consistency. The easiest way to do this is with a blender. If there is no muscat wine, then any other white sweet wine can be used.

Put the resulting mixture into a shallow form and send it to the freezer for 30 minutes. Then take out, mix and return to the freezer. Repeat the procedure every half an hour for 2-4 hours until all the liquid is gone and the ice becomes crumbly.

Arrange the finished granite in low glass glasses or bowls. Serve sprinkled lightly with black pepper.

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If you love Mojito cocktail and melon, why not combine these two flavors? Get an original snack for a party.

Ingredients

• 1 small melon variety "collective farmer";
• 4 limes;
• 200 ml of white rum;
• 150 ml of water;
• 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar;
• sprigs of mint.

Cooking

Grind the mint and squeeze the juice from the limes. Combine these ingredients, as well as powdered sugar and rum, in a blender and beat at high speed. Dilute this mixture with cold water and mix thoroughly.

Cut the melon into small slices, fill them with the resulting cocktail and send for half an hour in the refrigerator. After that, put each slice on a skewer and place in the freezer for another 30 minutes. Serve immediately before melting.

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Melon itself is a good thirst quencher, but this lemonade does it even better. Prepare it to cool off on a hot summer day.

Ingredients

• 1 ripe melon (1.5–2 kg);
• 3 cups of water (can be lightly carbonated);
• 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice;
• 2 teaspoons of sugar;

Cooking

Any kind of melon is suitable for this recipe, as long as it is juicy and sweet. Whip melon pulp, lime juice (lemon juice is also suitable, only in a little more quantity) and sugar in a blender. Dilute the resulting puree with water and mix thoroughly again.

Cool, pour into glasses, add ice and enjoy! And to make the taste of lemonade or any melon cocktail even more saturated, use not ordinary, but melon ice. It is very easy to make it. It is necessary to grind the melon pulp into a puree and freeze in ice molds (at least two hours).

Write in the comments how you prefer to eat melon and share your signature recipes.

A wonderful dessert is melon dishes. In addition to dessert masterpieces, this fruit can be put into salads, getting an incomparable snack. For the winter, it is possible to stock up on melon compote or jam. In general, the melon is versatile and can be used in any culinary invention.

Before you think about what to cook from melon, you need to familiarize yourself with its main use. The gourd fruit of the gourd family is mainly used raw, but the sweet pulp is processed into candied fruit, jam, melon honey, dried and dried.

Sweet melon dishes

Sweet Melon Dishes, recipes for the sweet tooth only, will detail how the juicy, yellowish melon pulp is processed into wonderful culinary creations. Often, ice cream, smoothies, pies, desserts and all kinds of pastries are made from this fruit.

Melon smoothie

A thick melon drink is designed to be consumed at breakfast to get a boost of energy for the whole day. Smoothies from can be supplemented with fruits or berries, such as kiwi. For a drink, you need to take 2 cups (150 grams) of diced melon, half a glass of kiwi of the same cut shape. The mixture will be supplemented with honey, in the amount of 1 tbsp. spoons and the same amount of lemon juice.

Cooking:

Based on this description, you can safely replace the kiwi with another ingredient, following the cooking steps.

Melon sorbet

Iced melon ice cream with a minimum of ingredients is melon sorbet. 250 grams of melon pulp, a large glass of water, st. spoon of lemon juice and 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar.

Cooking:

If there are no special molds, ordinary plastic cups can perform their function, and foil for baking will act as a lid.

Melon ice cream

This recipe involves the preparation of melon ice cream with an additive. It will take 1 glass of melon and strawberries, in the form of cubes. These ingredients can also be taken frozen. Additional ingredients will be: a quarter cup (40 grams) of milk, a third cup (50 grams) of orange juice, a glass of water and 1 tbsp. a spoonful of honey

Cooking:

melon dessert

To get an airy melon dessert similar to marmalade, the easy recipe below will help. For a jelly dessert, 1 sachet of Jelly (90 grams) and 270 grams of melon pulp will go. Fill the dish with aroma and taste 2 tbsp. spoons of coconut flakes, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, 40 grams of water and, if desired, fresh mint.

Cooking:

Melon pie

Sweet melon pie, a recipe with a photo of which will help you create sweet pastries at home. It will go 500 grams of melon, one glass of flour, semolina and kefir, 3 chicken eggs. Additional components of the cake will be 100 grams of butter, half a glass of sugar, a large spoonful of powdered sugar, a bag of vanilla sugar for flavor, half a teaspoon of salt and soda (quenched with vinegar). To lubricate baking surfaces with melon, you will need vegetable oil.

Cooking:

Melon snacks

Melon snacks suggest the presence of salty, peppery and such other components. Salads with melon can include various combinations with meat, sausage, cheese, cereals, rice. A snack from a juicy fruit can be made by simply frying it in a pan.

Salad with melon

This appetizer salad with melon is light and satisfying. It will need 1 melon weighing about 1 kilogram, 150 grams of rice, 150 grams of smoked meat (chicken), the same amount of hard cheese. To taste, you need to take salt, ground black pepper, olive oil and mint for decoration.

Cooking:

fried melon

Roasted melon can be a quick morning snack. For its preparation, you can take as many melons as you like, but this recipe for example is designed for 1 large fruit. When frying, it will be wrapped in flour, which will need 6 tbsp. spoons. If desired, you can add a bunch of shallots to the flour. 2 tbsp. spoons of cornstarch, 1 egg, half a teaspoon of salt and ground black pepper, a quarter cup of water, a glass of oil for frying.

Cooking:

Melon dishes are not limited to the list presented above. Let your imagination run wild and, guided by these recipes, create your own unsurpassed melon dish. Delicious culinary delights to you!

Melons began to grow in Asia around 1000 BC, they belong to the gourd family, that is, they are relatives of the cucumber. In England, melon is often eaten as a cold starter or dessert.

There are three types of melons: the casaba winter melon, which includes the cultivar 'Honeydew' with green-yellow flesh; mesh, or musk, melon, in which the flesh can be green, orange or pink; and cantaloupe - it includes the varieties "Ogen", "Charantais" and "Galia", they have green or orange flesh. Orange-fleshed melons are the tastiest and sweetest, and they also have the highest nutritional value.

Melons are characterized by an extremely high liquid content in fruits, approximately 93%, so they are used to quench thirst, make drinks, juices and add them to smoothies.

In this article, we will tell you what to cook from melon, share recipes for melon dishes and give recommendations for storing it.

Storage

A ripe melon will keep in the refrigerator for a week or two. The cut melon should be properly wrapped in a film so that its aroma is not transferred to other products.

It is also possible to store melon frozen. Freeze the melon in pieces or balls, first in an open way on a tray, then transfer to a bag. Once the melon has melted, it will lose some of its texture, so use it in fruit salads or drinks.

Recipes with melon without cooking

Melon is usually eaten fresh. A ripe melon springs slightly when you press its base, in addition, it emits a slight aroma. It is better to take the melon out of the refrigerator an hour before serving, so that it reaches room temperature, at which its taste and aroma become especially bright.

Before serving, cut the melon into half-moon slices and remove the central honor with seeds. Then, with a large knife, cut the flesh from the peel so that it remains one large segment. Make cuts along the length at a distance of 1 cm from each other, and then across at the same distance to make small cubes. You can cut it so that the pieces remain on the crust, but you do not need to eat the crust.

If you want to make small balls of melon pulp, which looks very good in desserts or snacks, you will have to buy a special spoon, like for ice cream.

Small round melons can be served by cutting in half and removing the seeds. Top with ground or chopped ginger or a little sugar - but sweet ripe melons don't need it. Such halves of melons can be served for dessert, filling them with other fruits.

watermelon cocktail recipe

Roll melon pieces or balls in sugar (you can add sweet wine, cognac or other spirits). Such a simple melon cocktail in this recipe will look especially attractive if you use melons with different colored pulp.

A dish of melon and Parma ham

A dish of melon and Parma ham is a classic Italian appetizer or part of a large appetizer plate. Serve thin slices, pieces or balls of melon wrapped in Parma ham slices - 2 slices per serving.

Salad with melon and mango

For 4 servings

• 100 g sugar 1/2 lemon
• 3 teaspoons fresh chopped ginger
• 1 melon
• 1 mango

Place sugar, 175 ml water, grated lemon zest, lemon juice and ginger in a saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil for 5 more minutes. Strain, chill.

Place the melon balls and the peeled mango pieces in a serving bowl and pour over the syrup. Stir and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

Ice cream with melon and ginger

If you do not know what to cook from melon, we advise you to use this recipe. Ice cream with melon and ginger is much tastier than regular ice cream. Ginger preserved in syrup is a very useful ingredient. One jar will last for a year, even after it has been opened, the ginger in it will not deteriorate.

For 6 servings

• juice of 1 lemon
• 175 g soft brown sugar
• 300 ml whipping cream
• 50 g ginger in syrup

Cut the melon into pieces, put in a blender along with lemon juice and beat.

Mix with sugar and leave for an hour at room temperature, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

Whip cream to soft peaks, combine with melon puree and finely chopped ginger. Transfer to a container and place in the freezer. Remove from the freezer when the mixture is half frozen and beat thoroughly to break up the ice crystals. Freeze again until firm.

Sherbet with melon and lime

Melon sherbet according to this recipe can be filled into molds to make ice cream on sticks.

For 4 servings

• 1 orange-fleshed melon (weighing approximately 500 g)
• juice of 2 limes
• 150 g fine sugar for glaze

Cut the melon into pieces, put in a blender along with lime juice and beat, adding sugar in small portions until it is all dissolved. Refrigerate.

Transfer to a container and place in the freezer. Remove from the freezer when the mixture is half frozen and beat thoroughly, then freeze again until firm.

Basic Recipes

Melon is usually eaten raw, but in Asia some varieties are cooked like vegetables. You can fry melon slices in a pan for 1-2 minutes in a little vegetable oil and serve as a side dish. Or you can cook hot vegetable soup with melon according to the basic recipes below.

Spicy chicken dish with melon salsa.

Melon salsa according to this recipe will be a pleasant substitute for mango salsa. It is served with grilled chicken or fish.

For 4 servings

• 2 teaspoons Jerk seasoning
• 4 tbsp. spoons of olive oil
• juice of 2 limes
• 4 skinless chicken breast fillets
• 1/2 melon
• 1 red onion
• 3 art. tablespoons fresh chopped coriander (cilantro) salt, black pepper

Prepare Jerk seasoning paste, 3 tbsp. tablespoons olive oil and lime juice. Spread half of the pasta on the chicken fillet and bake in the oven at 190°C until fully cooked. Cut into small pieces.

Mix the rest of the paste with the rest of the oil to make it thinner. Combine with chopped melon, finely chopped onion, coriander, salt and pepper. Serve with chicken.

Melon dishes are not so numerous, but melon recipes are worth knowing. For example, the recipe is a traditional melon appetizer with jamon. Different varieties of melons differ in different percentages of sugars. Accordingly, the higher the percentage, the sweeter the melon. There are several ways to determine the ripeness of a melon. First, take a look at the stem. In a ripe melon, it is usually thick in diameter. Then you need to press the crust on the opposite side of the stem. In an unripe melon, the rind is firm, while in a ripe one, it gives in slightly when pressed. But with cantaloupe melon it can be a little more complicated. On the peel of a ripe melon, depending on the variety, there may be a large mesh, or maybe an even color. First of all, you need to smell the melon - the ripe one smells delicious.

Italians are not too fond of sweets, but if they decide to cook them, they will definitely create something original. The recipe for apple jam with melon, ginger and dried oranges is one of those. The prosaic word "jam" is difficult to call them. Any recipe,

chapter: jams

Fruit salad in portioned melon plates is not just tasty and healthy, but a beautiful dish that will be an excellent decoration for the festive table. Often, bananas and oranges are used to make fruit salads, which, when combined

If you are one of those who like to taste something unusual, very tasty and healthy every time, then you should pay attention to melon jam. How to properly prepare such a delicacy, is there any benefit in it, as well as tips and secrets, we will consider in the article.

Features and benefits

Melon jam is no longer a rarity or a special delicacy. Many housewives have long pampered their loved ones with unusual jam. Its unique taste in some ways even resembles honey. The main feature of such a product is that it can be prepared from absolutely any melon, including unripe ones. The result is not only tasty, but also a healthy delicacy.

The benefit of this jam lies in the rich chemical composition of its main and main ingredient. Melon contains a large amount of fruit acids, natural sugars, fiber, pectin, vitamins C, A and P, as well as magnesium, iron, potassium and sodium.

Of course, in order for the body to be fully saturated with this rich vitamin composition, you need to eat fresh fruits. But even after heat treatment, most of the vitamins are preserved in jam. In order to preserve all the beneficial properties of melon as much as possible, you need to choose those recipes, the cooking process of which does not take much time.

In the event that the dessert is prepared according to all the rules, then its regular use will favorably affect the human body. For example, the beauty of hair and skin is noticeably improved, many metabolic processes of the body are normalized, pressure is stabilized, irritability and fatigue are reduced. Due to its rich composition, this product helps fight beriberi in the cold season, so it’s worth preparing several jars of such jam for the winter. And also a delicacy can help with anemia, overcome insomnia and just cheer you up on any cloudy day.

As for the harm to the body, then before using such jam, it is worth considering all contraindications. In case of allergy or individual intolerance, this product should not be used. If there are problems with being overweight, a disease such as diabetes, then you can not eat sunny fruits and dishes from them.

Delicious recipes

Today we have prepared several original recipes that will help you make fragrant jam from juicy and ripe melons. We will start with the classic version, which even a novice cook can handle. We take a kilogram of fragrant melon. You can choose fruits with white, red or even green flesh. Next, you need three hundred milligrams of purified water, a kilogram of sugar, one medium fresh lemon and half a teaspoon of vanilla powder.

If fresh citrus is not at hand, then in any recipe with lemon it can be replaced with citric acid powder. In this case, it will need only three grams. Cut the melon pulp into small pieces and blanch in boiling water for exactly five minutes. We recline everything in a colander, allowing the excess liquid to drain. Next, cook the syrup from the specified amount of water, vanilla and sugar. During the cooking process, add citric acid or fresh lemon juice.

Pour the pieces of melon with the resulting syrup, leave for exactly six hours. Then put on a slow fire and cook for exactly ten minutes. Time must be noted after the mass boils. Remove from heat, cool completely and fill prepared jars.

There is another simple recipe. With the help of it, you can make jam in a slow cooker. We take one kilogram of melon pulp, half a kilogram of sugar, a pinch of vanilla and four grams of citric acid. We cut the pulp into even cubes, put it in a bowl and cover it with sweet sand on top. Leave it like that, without stirring, for three hours. Then add citric acid powder. If you want to use fresh lemon, you can do this.

We carefully wash a medium-sized citrus fruit, remove the seeds and scroll in a meat grinder. Mix with melon and let the mass boil. After that, we turn on the “Baking” mode, and the jam will be cooked this way for exactly forty minutes.

At the height of the season, you can get on the market not only ripe melons, but also watermelons. It is from these two components that we recommend preparing delicious jam. For this recipe, you will need not the pulp itself, but the part that remains at the crust. Therefore, after eating the berries, do not throw away the crusts, but carefully cut off the rest. We take half a kilogram of cut melon pulp and the same amount of watermelon to end up with a kilogram. And you will also need six hundred milligrams of water and four hundred grams of regular sugar.

The cut parts of the crusts should be cut into cubes and dipped in boiling water for five minutes. We cook the syrup and fill it with our fragrant slices of melon and watermelon. We leave everything to infuse overnight. We start cooking in the morning. Bring the mass to a boil over low heat, remove from heat and insist for three hours. Repeat the procedure four times - and the dessert will be ready.

To get an unusual jam, or rather, jam, we suggest cooking fragrant melon in tandem with ripe bananas. One and a half kilograms of melon pulp should be cut into cubes, covered with the same amount of sugar, covered with a lid and left overnight. In the morning, add the juice of one fresh lemon, mix thoroughly and cook for thirty minutes over very low heat. We cut two lemons into circles (keeping the peel and removing the seeds), we also cut two large bananas into circles, and add everything to our mass.

Cook everything together until the mass resembles mashed potatoes. As soon as the fruit begins to boil, boil everything until thick and lay it in the prepared container. In order for the jam to be better stored and acquire an unusual aroma, we recommend putting baking paper soaked in cognac in each jar. Paper should be cut with a circle of the desired size.

On a cold winter day, you can enjoy an unusual jam, which is easy to prepare according to the following recipe. For a kilogram of fragrant pulp, you will need a pound of sugar, one fresh lemon, twenty grams of ginger root and a small pinch of cinnamon. We cut the melon into cubes, put it in a saucepan, rub the ginger root on top and squeeze the lemon juice. Add a couple of tablespoons of sugar, mix and leave for two hours.

After we cook the usual syrup. It is easy to cook, you need water and sugar in the same proportions. As soon as the syrup is obtained, we put our prepared mass there and cook on low heat for exactly fifteen minutes. As soon as the mass becomes thick, you can add cinnamon or vanilla.

For this recipe, it is best to choose very ripe soft melons so that the jam is homogeneous. In addition, in this recipe, lemon can be completely replaced with fresh orange or grapefruit, which will give the jam an original citrus note.

To make thick jam, you will need one and a half kilograms of juicy and ripe melon pulp, a pound of apples, a teaspoon of lemon or orange zest and a pound of sugar. Fragrant pulp should be mashed, covered with sugar, mix thoroughly and start cooking over very low heat. As soon as the mass begins to thicken a little, you can add apples, previously peeled and cut into small cubes. Cook until completely thickened, then add the zest, cook for another five minutes. That's it, dessert is ready!