Honeydew

The steeping liquid needs to chill for at least 4 hours, so plan accordingly.

Attractive, fragrant, and so tasty, these kebabs are a great way to fit more servings of fruit into your diet.

You will need to make this colorful dessert at least 8 hours in advance. If you want to stretch it to serve 12, spoon a half-cup of fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt into each bowl and top each serving with a half-cup of Spiced Fruit.

This is our favorite sangria recipe—it involves a little more effort than the usual sangria, but its flavor is far more complex than just wine mixed with orange juice. It really should be enjoyed with food, preferably tapas and small plates. It is an excellent companion to cheese and fish as well.

Cold soup and hot shrimp—this is a fantastic combination on a warm night. Blending the honeyed sweetness of this summer melon with intensely savory vegetables makes this dish incredibly refreshing. And I give the hot, spicy shrimp a hit of freshness by grilling finely sliced mint right onto them.

This salad looks like tricolore papardelle pasta, with vibrant ribbons of pink, green, and orange melon. If you don’t want to bother to make the melon shavings, just use a melon baller or cut the fruit in cubes; the salad will still be beautiful. This is one that both children and adults go nuts for, and the mint gives it an extra burst of freshness.

A perfect dessert soup to make in July, when melons are at their sweetest. This makes a refreshing finish to a grilled meal.

This is a new way to serve the classic combination of prosciutto with melon, one of Italians’ famously favorite ways to start a meal. You could pierce the prosciutto purses with toothpicks to make them easier to eat. And to make the preparation easier, be sure to place the block of Parmesan in the freezer for a few minutes, so that when you shave it, it won’t crumble.

We pursued the idea of using low-methoxyl pectin to create a fruit and vegetable adhesive that would allow us to create entirely edible terrines that were held together with an almost invisible but flavorful glue. This technique was the result of that exploration. First, we make fruit-flavored solutions with 0.5 percent calcium lactate or calcium gluconate. The choice of one over the other is based on taste. Calcium lactate is derived from lactose and has a slightly acidic taste. Calcium gluconate is derived from glucose and tastes slightly sweet. Calcium lactate has slightly more available calcium than calcium gluconate, although not enough to make a difference in most applications. You will sometimes find blended calcium under the label calcium lactate-gluconate. Then we impregnate the fruit with the calcium by vacuum sealing them together. It takes about five minutes for the calcium to be absorbed by the fruit, after which time we open the vacuum bag and pat the fruit dry. Next we dissolve 3 percent pectin in water at 203°F (95°C) to hydrate it, then let it cool. Once the pectin is cool, we brush it on one piece of the calcium-infused fruit and lay another piece on top. Then we vacuum seal the fruit to compress it together and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight. The following morning when we cut open the bag, we will find that the fruit has been sealed together with a pectin gel. The pectin gel is soft and seamless in the preparation. The resulting presentation is as beautiful as it is delicious. We enjoy the terrine sliced and served with seared scallops and crumbled blue cheese on hot days, and served warm with crispy soft-shell crabs on cool evenings. Even slicing and topping it with thinly shaved prosciutto is an elegant preparation.

Cold soup and hot shrimp—this is a fantastic combination on a warm night. Blending the honeyed sweetness of this summer melon with intensely savory vegetables makes this dish incredibly refreshing. And I give the hot, spicy shrimp a hit of freshness by grilling finely sliced mint right onto them.

How it fights fat Prosciutto's protein helps build calorie-blasting lean muscle, and the fiber in melon begins to fill you up so you can slow down and savor the next two delicious courses but not overdo it. Now that's a smart start!

I've been eating fruit for breakfast for what seems like forever, and I'm pretty tired of your average fruit cup. So this salad is a play on a breakfast fruit salad—complete with that breakfast classic pork (parma) and a wonderful kick from chile flakes that'll definitely get you on your toes early in the morning.

Fresh mint and lime juice add a bright finish to this drink.

The salsa has a perfect sweet-spicy balance, and it's an easy way to turn simple grilled chicken breasts into a dish that's dinner-party special.

Melons and cucumbers have a real affinity—they're related, after all. Here, they come together in a cool, uncooked chutney, which cuts the robust richness of thinly sliced hanger steak.

After such a substantial meal, you'll want to keep things light for dessert. A little fancier than a fruit salad yet almost as easy, this cool combination of musky cantaloupe and honeydew gets an unexpected fillip from icy granita. Don’t worry if the granita melts faster than you expect—it will slump into a lovely sauce over the fruit.