Summer at its most sumptuous

LEXINGTON -- With their intense sweetness and the voluptuous way they feel in your mouth, melons are the glamour queens of the fruit family. And August is the month when they strut their stuff. Scoop up a spoonful of bright orange cantaloupe and let the flesh slide against your tongue. A slice of honeydew is a pure hit of sugar that matches its creamy texture. The crisp, cold flesh of a perfect watermelon recalls all the best summer moments.

The variety of melons available in the Northeast has burgeoned in the last five years. Now farm stands such as Wilson Farms in Lexington, specialty grocers, and even supermarkets display as many as 10 different kinds. Look closely, and you might find varieties you've never seen: Sharlyn, Crenshaw, Galia , Charentais , orange honeydew, Ambrosia, Persian, Santa Claus, Canary, Cavaillon , Tuscan, butterscotch melon, yellow watermelon, and seedless watermelon.

This month, say local produce buyers, is prime season . ``August, in my opinion, is the best time for melons," says Tony Casieri, produce buyer for Wilson Farms. Early every morning, he goes to the New England Produce Center in Chelsea to pick melons by how ``they eat," he says. That means he tastes one of every batch he buys. ``We don't bring them in just for variety. The bottom line is how they taste." The flavor can change from lot to lot, he says, so tasting is important. He discovers much from those bites: what the growing conditions, the weather, and the shipping was like for these melons, most of which come from California. ``You can tell if you eat enough like I do."

Tony Russo of A. Russo & Sons in Watertown is a melon aficionado, too. Because of the extremely hot weather in California in July, he says, the beginning of the season has been a little disappointing. If the weather is too warm, melons ``may not take in as much sugar as you'd like," he says. ``The best of the crop will come later in the season, the last two weeks of August."

He's looking forward to that peak time, and so far he's trumpeting Tuscan melons shipped from Arizona. Similar to cantaloupe but a little bit firmer in texture, Tuscans have dark green stripes that mark the melon into sections perfect for cutting wedges. Cantaloupes are just coming into their own, Russo says, with ``really rich, strong flavors" beginning to show up. A few farms in the area, such as Nourse Farms in Whately, Stillman's Farm in Lunenburg, and Siena Farm in Lincoln, grow melons and sell them at farm stands or at farmers' markets, but not enough are grown for larger markets to get a regular supply. ``[Wilson's] used to grow a muskmelon," says Casieri, who has worked in produce for 22 years. But New England's weather -- melons need a dry spring -- didn't favor continuing the crop.

Stillman's Farm grows 30 varieties of melons because ``they're so fun," says Genevieve Stillman. Most of the melons, which won't be ripe for two to three weeks, are sold at farmers' markets, including those at City Hall Plaza, Copley Square, Brookline, Quincy, and Plymouth. Varieties include Charentais, Galia, San Juan, Canary, and Cavaillon, as well as some heirlooms and the more common melons. ``We will sell all we can pick," says Stillman, who adds that the farm also supplies several restaurants such as Sel de la Terre and Teatro. Siena Farm is growing Charentais, cantaloupe, honeydew, and a variety of butterscotch melon (similar to honeydew) called Sweetie No. 6. Farmer Chris Kurth, who sells at the Copley Square farmers' market and the Boston Public Market at Dewey Square downtown, says Charentais is his favorite; his melons also will be ready in a few weeks.

The craze for melons is ancient. The large family of melons, related to cucumbers, are thought to be native to the Near East. Arab civilizations began to cultivate melons sometime after the fall of the Roman Empire, and the Moors brought them to Spain. Later they appeared in Italy and France -- the cantaloupe is named for the town of Cantalupo outside Rome, where it is thought to have been first cultivated. Europeans grew them under glass bells or in greenhouses. Melons reached the New World when Columbus took seeds to Haiti.

These luscious fruits are subdivided into either summer melons -- such as cantaloupe, Charentais, and Galia, which mostly ripen in August in the United States -- and winter varieties, such as honeydew, Crenshaw, and Cavaillon, ready after Labor Day. Because they're grown in many parts of the world, they're shipped here almost year-round. Both Russo and Casieri agree that it's possible to get good melons from the Caribbean or even farther away in the winter.

Although we tend to lump watermelons in with other melons, they're actually in another botanical family, which is native to Africa. Watermelon seeds were brought to the Americas by slaves. Many varieties of watermelon -- from Florida and other parts of the South -- are available right now at Wilson Farms, but it's usually size and seeds that determine which are the most desirable. Some customers love the seedless kinds, says Casieri, though the variety actually has pale seeds that are edible. Others swear that traditional, oval, black-seeded watermelons are tastier. Casieri says that though people look for a dark red color, that isn't actually the true test of sweetness. He recalls a pale-pink fleshed watermelon he tried recently that was ``surprisingly good."

Now that different sizes are available, customers are gravitating to small, cannonball-shaped watermelons, and even smaller ``personal" watermelons (see E3). Fairly new and gaining in popularity is the yellow-fleshed variety.

We usually think of taste when judging these and other melons, but in the industry, buyers talk a lot about texture. Picking just-ripe fruit is so important, says Casieri, because ``when you cut into one you can tell immediately if it's a day or two gone." Taste is still important, of course. Russo doesn't buy Persian melons because they lack sweetness. He also is lukewarm on the current darling, personal watermelons. ``They seem to be inconsistent in terms of quality," Russo says; he also finds the texture spongy. ``I like fruit that is crispy and sweet." Instead, this produce buyer prefers the texture of Baby Dolls, watermelons that are slightly bigger than ``personals."

No one would dispute that all melons and watermelons are refreshing, mostly because they have a high water content. In fact, watermelons were often carried along on journeys in Africa and the Middle East as a source of potable liquid. That high water percentage also means melons are very low in calories (1 cup of diced melon is 53 calories; 1 cup of diced watermelon is 46 calories), making them a perfect snack for those watching their weight. And they also rate well in terms of vitamins, especially A and C, and in fiber.

Casieri has a friend who is nuts about watermelon. ``He eats six in a seven-day period," says the produce buyer, shaking his head. ``I don't even think it's normal." Because the friend is so crazy about the fruit, he's always pushing Casieri to find new varieties. Other customers do the same, suggesting melons they've eaten in Europe or fruits they remember from childhood in their native countries. It keeps a produce manager on his or her toes. ``Our clientele still educate us. They force you to learn your trade."

But, after all, tasting all those melons has to be a sweet way to make a living. Even if it is at dawn.