Sure Sign of Summer – Charentais

Summer in the desert is not for the faint of heart.

Temperatures typically stay north of triple digits from early June through mid-September.

One way to weather the eternal inferno is to slice open a cool, sweet melon — undeniably one of summer’s greatest gifts.

Last summer I discovered Charentais, a French melon grown by Phoenix grower Carl Seacat of Seacat Gardens.

By mid-June, continuing through July and hopefully August, too, Seacat will have these beautiful, honeyed melons at the Scottsdale Stadium Summer Market (that is if restaurant chefs don’t gobble them all up first).

Here’s the original post and a recipe for a Charentais Frappé (the smoothie’s haut monde cousin). Find out what Seacat told me that contradicted everything I knew about cantaloupes.

In West Texas, July brought a windfall of Pecos cantaloupes, surely the sweetest melons I’ve ever tasted.

Until now… Read more and get the recipe …