Yellow Watermelon Salad. An easy Summer Fruit Salad side dish that’s as refreshing and delicious as it is beautiful.
Rocky Ford Melons
This past Sunday, the melon truck was offering up some smaller seedless yellow-fleshed melons. The samples were sweet, crunchy and delicious so I decided to grab one. But the real superstar of Mumm Farms Melon Truck is always the famous Rocky Ford Cantaloupe. Let’s take a look at some Rocky Ford Melons.
Our delicious mouth-watering Rocky Ford watermelons and cantaloupes have been available in our Farmers’ Markets for a couple of weeks now.
Rocky Ford Cantaloupe is the King of melons here. I remember growing up in Kansas, neighbors would haul home a trunk load coming back from Colorado vacations and pass them out like prize winnings.
They are grown around the little Southeastern Colorado town of Rocky Ford which lies along old Highway 50. It’s in an area called the Arkansas Valley of Colorado which refers to the Arkansas River which starts high in the Rocky Mountains near Leadville, runs through Pueblo, then through Southern Colorado, continuing on through Kansas. Its most famous claim to fame is the canyon it’s chiseled out called The Royal Gorge.
The small town of Rocky Ford hails itself as the “Sweet Melon Capital of the World”. That’s because hot days, cool nights and a relatively high elevation help farmers grow some of the sweetest cantaloupe on the planet And believe me, every single bite is lush and cherished.
You can visit the web site of the Rocky Ford Grower’s Association for more information on our famous fruit.
Did you know that most of the Rocky Mountain Region and the United States receive their melon seeds for planting from here? Rocky Ford melons recently gained international notoriety with Barack Obama’s public endorsement.
Plain and simple, you just haven’t lived until you’re tasted the super sweet juicy Rocky Ford Cantaloupe. The orange meat of these melons is “perfecto”.
Yellow Watermelon
Less famous than Rocky Ford Cantaloupe are their beautiful sweet watermelons. I purchase both pink meat and their speciality melons, like this yellow fleshed.
I made a very simple Summer Yellow Watermelon Salad using chopped mint and Hawaiian Pink Sea Salt to balance the sweetness.
Yellow Watermelon Salad Recipe
I hope you give this easy Summer Fruit Salad recipe a try. And I’m hoping you can find Yellow Watermelon at your markets. It makes for a fun presentation. But of course you can use regular watermelon for this recipe.
And if you have a favorite Summer Watermelon Salad Recipe, let me know. I’d love to give it a try.
Easy Yellow Watermelon Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups watermelon cubed, preferably a yellow variety
- 1 lime, juiced
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
- 4 Tablespoons fresh mint torn
- Pink Hawaiian Specialty Salt to taste, or Pink Himalayan
Instructions
- Peel and cube the watermelon. In a bowl arrange the melon and sprinkle with ime juice salt and pepper. With a large spoon, gently stir the melon. Sprinkle with torn mint leaves and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Rocky Ford Melon,
It Screams Colorado Summer!
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Love this. I’ve never seen a yellow melon. Light and refreshing with the mint. Don’t you love all this time of year with all the fresh fruits and veggies?
I’m with you, I’m a bit dubious over the bee tale but it might be true.
Those look great. We are just starting to get some tasty melons in. My favorites, when I can find them, are those little seedless watermelons. Just slice one in half and it’s dessert for two.
I have to check this out! It sounds great!
Love this post, and we love Rocky Ford Melons. We can usually buy them here in my town in Missouri in August.
My husband was raised in Rocky Ford and well remembers harvesting melons when he was a kid. I was raised in Elbert County on a ranch, so I am excited to have found your blog. I look forward to visiting often!
Melons are just coming into our markets here too and they are on my shopping list for Saturday. I can’t wait to try your way of serving watermelon. I’ve heard the same thing about scars and I always look for them.
Love your pictures of the farmers market; makes me want to find one right now! But you are so right on; now quite like Christmas but certainly a highly anticipated time of year when those Rocky Ford melons become available. I love, love, love them; makes it hard for me to love any other cantaloupe. Ever.
Good thing I have a melon sitting on the counter or I’ll have to run to the store now. Thanks for the tip on the melon scars. I normally avoid those melons but I’ll try one with them the next time.
Beautiful post! The melon salad looks delicious. Because of you, I love black pepper and salt on fruit – it all started with that Mango Gone Wild post. Who knows about the melon scars – was it incredibly sweet? Those fruit guys. 😛 (LOVE his market display!)
The melon sounds very good and I’ll bet they were picked closer to prime ripeness than what we get, which are usually still pretty green – and less flavorful. Bev likes to keep sliced melon in the fridge most of the time for a snack, a side dish, or a dessert. Thanks for the info about Rocy Ford and the melons – being a geography person I had to immediately go to maps and see where it is and where the river runs.
I’ve never seen watermelon that color before! What a great salad!
A yellow watermelon? It seems I need to get out more! I like my watermelon with chile powder and lime… I’ll have to try your idea of black pepper too 🙂
He had good prices. I paid $ 4 foe a big one at the Farmers Market in the Springs. I just cut up a yellow flash for dinner to mix with some couscous.
I think the melon man made that up to get you to buy his not-so-pretty melon 🙂
LOL Pam…I wondered about that. You’d think I just fell off the melon truck.
Sounds like a bit of a story to me but who knows!
Thanks for stopping by my blog today, I’ve enjoyed yours.