KITLIVINGLIVING
MAKING CARBS COUNT
Recipe overleaf.
The hotter months bring
those big round fruits to
our tables, and smiles
to our faces, which by
that time may need to
be wiped clean from dripping juices of
this luscious summertime treat. You need
no more than a knife to open up these
beauties, then you can literally pass round
the slices and get down to business,
gnawing the flesh from the rind. The slices
are even shaped like a smile.
Melons have been around a long time,
originating in Africa, spread around their
empire by the Romans, with melon seeds
taken to the Americas with the settlers. As
a result, many areas now have a specific
variant of melon to call their own. There's
even a winter melon, which goes by
many names such as winter gourd, ash
gourd, white or tallow gourd or Chinese
preserving melon. It is more widely used
in cooking, particularly in Asia. In India,
where it's know as the ash gourd, it is
recognized for its medicinal properties in
the Ayurvedic system of medicine.
A melon is any of various plants of
the family Cucurbitaceae, which includes
cucumber, pumpkin and squash.
Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry,
specifically a 'pepo'.
Best from May to August in the
UK, the main ones we know here are
the honeydew, galia, watermelon and
canteloup. Low in calories, there's some
carb content, with the canteloup being
more sugary than the watermelon but
generally all are of a medium glycaemic
index, so pretty good for people with
diabetes though eat in moderation as it
will raise your blood glucose. These fruits
are low in sodium, calories and fat and are
cholesterol free. The natural sweetness
could curb cravings for sugary foods
and high calorie sweets. Watermelon,
in particular, is good for weight loss as
a whole cup provides just 48 calories.
An extra benefit of melon is that's it's
supposed to be good for the skin, as it
contains collagen, plus the vitamins it
contains are skin-healthy. You can literally
cut slices to lay on your skin and relax for
a while before rinsing off, leaving your skin
with a healthy glow.
Classic combo
Flavour-wise, melon works well with mint,
ginger and cucumber. As very big berries
themselves, melons also work well with
strawberries and raspberries. Melons can
be used for granitas and sorbets, but for
those you'd be adding in sugar, which
seems a shame when they are fairly sweet
to begin with. Food writer Diana Henry
recalls having had a charentais melon (a
type of French canteloup) with its hollow
filled with raspberries or ice-cold muscat,
which both sound rather lovely. You can
even make a pickle from watermelon rind,
boiling it until it is transparent with sugar
and flavours like ginger or lemon then
preserving in glass jars.
Melon with Parma ham is a traditional
Italian appetizer, known simply as
'prosciutto melone'. Two basic, simple
ingredients can be dressed up to look
great. Either slice melon into thin slices
and wrap with a thin sheet of Parma ham,
or you can cut the melon into squares
and wrap those, or even make melon Nutritional content
of Melon (averages)
balls and skewer those with a little bit of
folded ham, and you can add on a small
ball of mozzarella or even some fig. Invert
the whole idea and you can line a bowl
with the Parma ham and fill it with small
cubes of melon and rocket, basil or mint
Per 100g, calories 36, no fat, no
cholesterol, teeny bits of potassium, 10g of carbs, little bit of
fibre. Melons have a whopping
big dose of Vitamin C (30% RDA
and Vitamin B-6 (5% RDA).