Once in a while, life presents you with a perfect. That is the story of the Persian melon for me.
It’s perfect from the moment you see it. It’s unmissable, even as it sits among seven different types of melons at our local Eastern European grocery in north London. The Persian melon is shaped like a rugby ball, with light orange skin that has ridges. Even though it’s large (weighing about three kilos), it’s easy to hold and drop into the tote bag.
It’s nothing like the smooth, round and all-too-heavy watermelon. You don’t have to clench your stomach and tighten your sphincter before you lift one. You don’t have to worry that it will accidentally slide out and splatter on the shop floor, splaying its insides in places hard to reach.
And the Persian melon smells good: sweet and summery. You can be sure it’s ripe and soft enough. Just give it a firm squeeze and a satisfying sniff. Unlike most other melons, you don’t have to wait to cut it open to find a mistake. You can be assured that the Persian melon will be worth the slightly awkward stares you get as you walk back home lugging around one of the heaviest fruits that you can buy at the grocers.
Now let’s face it: how many melons have you ended up spoiling because you could not bring yourself to cutting them? You picked one up at the shop because you wanted a tasty and healthy treat. But when it’s time to cut it (often days after you bought it), you don’t have the same enthusiasm.
I’m not blaming you. The undoing of a melon is a messy affair. Melons are nothing but balls of water held together by some thin biofilms and wrapped in a seemingly bullet-proof jacket. It’s never going to be as easy to cut into pieces as an apple.
The easiest melons to cut are cantaloupes. And, fortunately, the Persian melon is just like a large cantaloupe. The green rind is thick, but not too firm to cut out. That means there’s little risk of applying unnecessary force on the rind and cutting your hand instead. All the seeds are in the middle and thus there’s no need to spit out seeds when you eat the melon.
Once served in a big bowl, it’s a pleasure to eat. You can push in the fork without effort, and yet when you lift it the piece holds perfectly firm. There’s no drip and no risk of accidental spillage. So far so cantaloupe, except its color: a lovely white with a yellow tinge.
The best part is the magic in the mouth. This is where the Persian melon one-ups the cantaloupe (and the others). All melons are watery, but the Persian melon lets you taste the sweet water for as long as you’d like to taste it. The taste is subtle and refreshing. It hydrates the body and pampers the tongue. It’s sweet, but not too sweet. Once you stop eating, the sweetness stays with you for at least 15 minutes and the memory forever.
Akshat Rathi 