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Athena Melons Delivery or Pickup
The Instacart guide to Athena melon products
Make your day a little easier, and order your favorite Athena melon products via Instacart. You can have Athena melons delivered in as little as 2 hours!
About Athena melons
Athena melons are medium-sized cantaloupe-type melons. The exterior of the fruit features a tough rind complete with coarse netting. The skin can appear faint orange to tan. The interior of an Athena melon boasts the classic cantaloupe appearance. At the rind, a thin, bright green ring turns into dense orange flesh. That flesh wraps around a central small seed cavity.
While the terms muskmelon and cantaloupe are frequently used interchangeably in the United States, technically, not all muskmelons are cantaloupes, though all cantaloupes are indeed muskmelons. Athena melons fall into the Cucumis Melo Reticulatus category thanks to their highly netted skin.
Athena melons are hybrid cantaloupes that were developed and released commercially in the 1990s as a disease-resistant, easy-to-ship, incredibly flavorful cantaloupe. The fruits mature in around 75 days, and they continue to maintain freshness even when they are harvested fully ripe.
Known to maintain a juicy consistency and firm texture even at the peak of ripeness on the vine, Athena melons consistently deliver exceptional sweetness. You can look forward to the aromatics of honey and flowers, too. The oval, early-maturing melons have an average weight of around five to six pounds. Melons with orange flesh like Athena melons are rich in beta-carotene. Athena melons also offer vitamin C, fiber, folate, and potassium.
Athena melons' sweet flavor pairs well with a variety of other foods, including:
- Arugula.
- Balsamic vinegar.
- Basil.
- Citruses.
- Cottage cheese.
- Cucumbers.
- Cured meats.
- Goat cheese.
- Tomato.
- Yogurt.
You can use Athena melons in most recipes that call for cantaloupe or muskmelon. They taste best when they are fresh and uncooked. The versatile melons work well for either savory or sweet preparations, so you'll find lots of ways to enjoy this delicious fruit. Some ideas for serving Athena melons include:
- Making chilled summer soups, cocktails, or sorbet from pureed Athena melons.
- Using cubed Athena melon in a fruit salad with complementary ingredients like berries, honeydew melon, fresh mint, grapes, or lime.
- Wrapping sliced Athena melon in prosciutto.
How to tell if Athena melons are ripe
Athena melons easily slip off the vine when they're ripe. When Athena melons are ripe and kept at room temperature, you can detect a sweet melon aroma. This is especially the case at the melon's stem end. Athena melons are in season and available during the summer months.
How to preserve Athena melons
You'll typically want to keep Athena melons refrigerated until you're ready to eat them. However, if you prefer to keep uncut melons at room temperature, you can store Athena melons that way, as well. Just make sure you use Athena melons you keep at room temperature within a few days. The best Athena melons are those used with two to three weeks of harvest. Once you cut Athena melons, you should keep cut pieces in the refrigerator. Cut melons left at room temperature for more than a short period of time risk contamination.
Athena Melons Near Me
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FAQs about Athena melons
Athena melons are a hybrid cantaloupe variety. Botanically speaking, Athena melons are part of Cucumis Melo Reticulatus and members of the Cucurbitaceae family, which makes them muskmelons.
In the United States, Athena melons (and in fact most types of muskmelon) are referred to commercially as cantaloupes. True cantaloupes are actually warty fruits that grow mostly in Europe. Cantaloupes grown in the U.S. use the generic name cantaloupe for any netted, musky melons. Depending on the region, Athena melons might be called muskmelons or cantaloupes.
Created as a commercial variety of cantaloupe that could grow successfully in the eastern U.S., Athena melons were bred so that they would stay firm when ripe and deliver an excellent holding ability for both shipping and shelf life. It's no wonder, then, that Athena melons are now one of the most popular muskmelon or cantaloupe cultivars in the southeastern U.S.
When you're ready to slice open an Athena melon, make sure you do so carefully. Cantaloupe-type melons risk bacterial contamination when cut, so learn safe handling practices to enjoy your favorite melons.
First, you should always wash your hands and utensils before and after cutting. To help get rid of bacterial contamination, you can rinse a whole Athena melon under cool, running water while gently scrubbing its rind using a natural bristle brush. Pat the Athena melon dry before slicing it open. Then, put the melon on a clean surface to cut it. Remove the stem end and discard it. You can then scoop the seeds out and slice your Athena melon into sections of your desired size.
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