Narsai David: Summer Melons

(KCBS) - KCBS Food and Wine Editor Narsai David says it's the peak of melon season now.

Honeydew and cantaloupe, which are sort of the old standby, take second fiddle to the rest of the summer varieties.

The orange-fleshed honeydew offers more flavor than the regular honeydew. Just as the name implies, it looks and feels like a honeydew except for the inside color.

It's too early for melons like the Casaba and the Santa Claus, or Christmas, melons.

But some other melons you may enjoy now are the Charentais, a French melon, the Crenshaw, one of my all time favorites which has a delicate flavor, the Gallia, the Canary, and the Persian melons. If you like cantaloupe, you should try a Persian melon. This is the king of cantaloupes. It has a denser flesh, it's like cantaloupe on steroids.

And now is also the time for watermelons. Growing up in Turlock, we never dreamed of eating watermelons before the Fourth of July because that's when the really local, good and sweetest ones came in.

- Narsai David, KCBS Food and Wine Editor

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Narsai David is the KCBS Food and Wine Editor. He has been a successful restaurateur, chef, TV host, and columnist in the Bay Area spanning four decades. You can hear him Saturdays at 10:53am, 12:53pm and 4:53pm, and at 2:53am Sunday on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

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