Cantaloupe isn’t my favorite melon, but it’s the melon I’ve eaten the most of. My grandmother served it at the end of every summer meal (with salt and pepper), and when I realized it was socially acceptable to wrap slices of meat around the sweet, orange pieces, I developed the habit of prosciutto con melon in my 20s. (Actually, I lied earlier. It’s my favorite melon.)
Breaking down one of these things is almost a matter of course for me, which is why I never thought of doing a tutorial until a colleague who was supposed to go nameless explained his melon slicing method via Slack. “I cut [it] cut into wedges, then cut out the seeds, then cut off the skin and then chop the fruit. “
This is low-key chaos and high-key a lot more complicated than it should be. But it’s not the edited fault. Cantaloupe preparation is not intuitive. In contrast to most fruits, the peel is removed last, which – similar to leaving the root end of the onion– helps keep things neat and tidy while you are slicing and dicing. If that doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry. I will show you how to do it. Let’s break down a melon together, step by step.
Step 1: cut your cantaloupe in half
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Start by cutting the melon in half, starting at the end of the stem and cutting the litter to the opposite side.
Step 2: core the seeds
Remove the seeds, thread-like parts, and goop that surround them with an ordinary spoon. Plant the seeds or throw them in the compost.
Step 3: cut your cantaloupe into columns
Divide the halves into quarters by cutting them vertically into two wedges of equal size. Do it again and you have eighths. Do it again and you have sixteenths. I never went any further, but you could if you wanted – live life by your own rules!
Step 4: start creating these segments
Grab a paring knife (or a large knife if you’re familiar with it) and cut straight to the rind, but not through. The size of these cuts is up to you. Play around with it! Have fun!
Step 5: finish it!
Take your paring knife and run it under the flesh of the melon, along the skin (and away from your body). There you go. You now have pretty little (almost) diced melon, perfect for snacking (with a little salt) or for wrapping in prosciutto. You could make a fruit salad too, I suppose, but I’ve never met a fruit salad that comes close to the deliciousness of prosciutto con melon.
