No, not a misquote of the infamous ‘How do you like them apples’ from Good Will Hunting.
I’m talking melons, ripe, juicy melons………………. or perhaps not.
We bought a honeydew melon for a pound about four weeks before Christmas.
It was rock hard, and pressing in the dimple at the end, we assumed it would ripen at home over the next week or so.
As a child, fruit such as grapes, peaches, nectarines, pineapple, raspberries and strawberries were seasonal summer fruits and we’d have an abundance of satsumas, clementines and pomegranates in the winter.
It’s all changed now and due to improvements in refrigeration and forced growth methods we can have any fruit practically any time of year, at a price of course, so my melon was good value.
Or was it? We got caught with bananas a couple of years ago that should have ripened at home. I think my bunch went backwards to the tree and I had to throw them all away.
The 2018 healthy eating regime is under way, and what better than having fruit for a snack rather than toast, cereal or crackers?
The melon was still intact in the basket in the kitchen, still rock hard, and there was no dimpling of the dimple, so rather than just throw it away without checking, I cut into it, expecting it to be rotted from the inside and inedible.
In fact, it is perfectly ripe and I shall be having it for breakfast over the next few days.
Photo: Melon breakfast on the boat, Nov 2016.
