This is a great one for extra melons!
End up with extra fruit at the end of the growing season? Freeze it. It's not hard, and frozen fruits have a ton of uses, provided you understand that the texture isn't going to be the same as fresh.**
You can eat them of course. Let them thaw a little (you'll get the best texture from freezing them per the caption above) and go to town.
You can make jam with them. This is great for someone like me who is a teacher in real life with limited jars and storage space. When Western Slope (Colorado) peaches come ripe, I prep the fruit for freezing and portion them into the amounts I'll need for jam, a pie, and a cobbler. Later in winter, once the rush to get classes going in Fall has passed and enough half pint jars from earlier jam runs are exhausted, I thaw the peaches and process.
You can also, in about 5 minutes' time make a great frozen dessert. This is especially good to do with peeled, chunked, frozen melons--makes a great sorbet!
This last growing season, I grew bateekh samara melons.
Bateekh samaras are from the honeydew family. They grow about the size of a nerf football (or a bit smaller), and have a bit of citrus taste to them.
What I'm about to share works with any melon though.
Any extra melon you have that you're not going to eat should be peeled, seeded, and cut into about 1" chunks. Freeze the chunks on a cookie sheet or plate (as above), and put aside.
Melon sorbet needs about 1 1/2 melons' worth of chunks, but you can always do more. This is less a firm recipe and more a technique.
When you want sorbet, take the chunks out and put into a food processor. Pulse them a bit until they start to turn into chunks about the size of a pea.
Use a spatula to push any chunks stuck to the sides of the processor back down and sweeten.
I personally like to use honey. The floral notes of a good honey play off the floral notes in muskmelons and honeydews (as do vanilla and mint, see "Pro Tips" below) well, but you can use sugar too. I might recommend making a simple syrup instead of just adding regular sugar: dissolve equal parts of sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Let it cool. Voila, simple syrup.
Add your sweetener, a pinch of salt, and now it's decision time. Do you want any dairy? I do. I like the flavor and the smoother texture. Some suggestions are cream, milk, or yogurt. As before, this is not a recipe so I won't tell you how much. Pour some in. Whizz it around in the bowl. Add some more to your taste.
Now enjoy.
Be aware that this isn't ice cream, nor did you use an ice cream maker. It will be smoothest and closest to actual sorbet right after making. Dish it up and enjoy.
Any leftovers can be frozen for later, but will have to be thawed a bit to be scoopable.
Some pro tips?
The recipe above can be done with whatever kind of frozen fruit chunks you have. Mix and match and enjoy!
Mint goes great with melons, but I would recommend using mint leaves and not extract. You want the mint in the background, not to be punched in the face with it.
Similar goes for vanilla. Here you can add some extract, but a light hand is best. Again, think supporting player, not the guy in the front belting out his lines.
One help here for texture and making it easier to manage after freezing is to add some corn syrup and some booze. No more than about 2 Tbsp corn syrup in a batch and maybe about that much ( or up to 3 Tbsp) alcohol unless you want a boozy dessert. Vodka is good for neutral flavor, an orange liqueur might also go good.
If you want to be elaborate, you can approximate actual ice cream maker ice cream here by whipping your cream and folding it into the sweetened fruit mix. After folding, freeze as above. The finished texture will be lighter and airier.
If you get a real hot tip and want to share, please email to me at info@goodthingsfromcoryskitchenandyard.com. I always love suggestions!
**Quick note: when you put up the peaches or other fruits that might brown, acidify them!
