To All,
On 16 Jul 2015 Trader Joe's was selling Tuscan melons. I snapped one up not only because it was new to me but also because this melon had been highly recommended by Doug. It looks a lot like a cantaloupe, though somewhat bigger and with pronounced ribs. The main difference is that it is fuzzy. I conclude that the Tuscan melon is a hybrid of a cantaloupe and a teddy bear. Trader Joe's was selling this melon for a flat $3.49. Mine weighted 5.05 pounds, so the cost was $0.69 per pound. Here are some Internet pictures.
My melon had an ornate sticker (see below), but it had no PLU code, as you can verify by inspection. (The fragments of other PLU stickers that you see in the picture appear because I took this photo of a sticker that had already been mounted in the work in progress, "Sticker Shock VI." For a discussion of PLU codes and of the original "Sticker Shock," see the e-mail of 9 Dec 2015.) Looking at the picture immediately above, you see melons with the same sticker, and the PLU code 4352 has been pasted over it. You might think that this is the PLU code for Tuscan melons, but the PLU site reveals this is a retailer assigned code for muskmelons. This sticker did lead me to the web page for Dulcinea melons, which provided the picture below that summarizes the properties of this melon (including "Always Ripe") and also gives tips on judging ripeness. This hybrid melon is grown exclusively by Dulcinea Farms, and its official name, "Extra Sweet Tuscan Style" cantaloupe, is trademarked. Burpee claims that this melon originated in Italy. I doubt that claim; perhaps the person who developed it had grandparents from Italy.
Here are pictures of my Tuscan melon.
- The entire melon. From the netting on the surface, you can infer that it is a muskmelon (see e-mail of 28 Jun 2015). (Those three linear marks on the top are due to sitting on the wire shelf of my refrigerator. You can also see a flat place on the melon. I can only conjecture as to its cause.)
- Cut into halves. The meat is the color of cantaloupe. You can see from the darkened crescents that I let the melon go too long; I shouldn't have let it sit in the fridge for eight days. There is, however, still plenty of good-looking melon to eat. (As you can see from the picture below, this melon has green grooves, so the tips on judging ripeness in the preceding picture indicate that this melon is still in the early stages of ripeness. Clearly, the art of judging the ripeness of melons still eludes me. Here is a video that instructs you on how to tell when a Tuscan melon as well as other cantaloupes are ripe)
- Half of the melon, where a quarter is intact and shows the seeds. The other quarter has been cut into three slices, and the seeds have been removed; it was easy to remove both the seeds and rind with a paring knife.
Now to try this cantaloupe in teddy bear's clothing. I bit off a chunk of melon and chewed it. It tasted very much like a cantaloupe in that it had the cantaloupe flavor, though the sweetness was not quite as piercing as that of the cantaloupe. (By reputation, the Tuscan melons are sweeter than cantaloupes.) In a blind taste test, I would have a hard time distinguishing these two melons. I ate a quarter of this melon for dessert after lunch, and it completely filled me up. I took a bite of the darkened portion to see what it was like. It didn't taste bad, but it had no cantaloupe taste, and it had a slight off-taste. I'm not going to eat any more of the dark part. My melon was juicy but not so juicy as to make a mess.
I see that I violated two of the Tuscan melon commandments. First, one should only refrigerate a Tuscan melon that has become too ripe. (Mine was not overripe when I first put it into the fridge.) Second, one should not refrigerate a Tuscan melon for more than five days.
The verdict is that the Tuscan melon is for the most part a repackaged cantaloupe. Buying this melon makes sense if you prefer a bigger melon and enjoy that teddy bear feel. (In addition to the usual small sample disclaimer, in this case an additional qualification is that this melon clearly was not at its peak.)
Perhaps Doug and Margy, who have had considerable experience with this melon from Costco, will want to correct or add to my remarks.
Your party tip is, when it is time for dessert, to put out containers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream of various flavors. Cut a number of Tuscan melons in half and remove the seeds so that each half has a hollow hemisphere where the seeds were located. Present each guest with half of a melon with the hollow hemisphere up, and invite each guest to fill the hollow with his or her favorite ice cream. As the guests eat, the flavor, texture, and temperature of the ice cream will mingle with the flavor, texture, and temperature of the melon, and your guests will experience a new panorama of gustatory sensations as these two domains of pleasure intermix. As they go home, they will stand in awe that you were able to teach them something that they did not previously think possible, a new and superior way to eat ice cream.
Rick
P.S. Many of these e-mails have referred you to the PLU site, which allows you to plug in a PLU code and get back information on the fruit to which it applies. I have often been pondering a fruit and wished that I had a reverse PLU site that would allow me to plug in a fruit and get back its PLU code. While floundering around trying to learn about Tuscan melons, I stumbled upon this long-desired reverse PLU code site. For example, this page allows you to see all the PLU codes for oranges. When it rains it pours, and I next found yet another reverse PLU site. Neither site provided a PLU code for the Tuscan melon. These two sites are organized differently, where the former site organizes by fruit type and the latter site by alphabetical order; I can see uses for both. If you want to brush up on your PLU codes, go to this site for computerized PLU flashcards.
P.P.S. Attached is a high resolution version of the latest Fruit Explorer art work, "Sticker Shock V," which collects my PLU stickers from 8 May to 12 Jul 2015.
