Cantaloupe Melon

Cantaloupe melon

1/2 average (cantaloupe) melon contains:

40 cal;
.9 gm protein incomplete);
.1 gm fat;
10 gm carbohydrate;
18 mg calcium;
21 mg phosphorus;
.5 mg iron;
16 mg sodium;
34 mg potassium;
4,533 units A;
.05 mg B-1;
.04 mg B-2;
.8 mg niacin;
44 mg C;
21 mg magnesium.

Melons, cool, sweet, and refreshing, make an excellent, healthful appetizer, dessert, or snack. They are an excellent source of vitamin C, a vitamin especially important to children and adolescents. This vitamin aids in the formation of healthy bones, teeth, and gums, helps maintain normal vision, strengthens connective tissues and walls of blood vessels, aids healing and helps ward off infections, and promotes sound health and vigor. Vitamin C may also prove an aid against allergies, hay fever, asthma, eczema hives, shingles, bleeding gums and pyorrhea, bruising, colds and flu, arthritis, and atherosclerosis. Melons are also rich source of vitamin A, which promotes growth, aid! normal vision and especially night vision, protects the lining of the nose, throat, and lungs (especially aiding against respiratory infections), helps promote healthy skin, and is especially important during pregnancy and while breast feeding. Melons include cantaloupe, casaba, crenshaw, honeydew, honey ball, and watermelon. Maximum vitamin capacity and flavor is reached when the melons are fully ripe. Ripeness can be judged in most melons by noting the color (deep and rich), the netting, if any (grayish and well defined), and the stem scar (shallow and smooth). Ripe cantaloupes are somewhat spongy rather than firm, and like many melons, they have a distinct fragrance. Watermelons are ripe when deeply colored (gray or green) on top and yellow underneath. It is often recommended that melons, except for watermelons, be served at room temperature, but fewer vitamins are lost after cutting if the melons are chilled first. Lemon juice can be sprinkled on melons after they are cut, adding a pleasant tartness to the flavor as well as helping preserve vitamin C and somewhat aiding digestibility. If only part of the melon is used, the seeds should be left in the part not used, to help hold in nutrients and keep the flesh fresh and moist. Any cut portion of melon should be tightly covered, with the cut edges well protected to keep them from drying out.