Instructions: A melons rind holds inside itself a great mystery. Is the fruit ripe yet?

Will it be moist and delicious, or woody and disappointing?

Most fruits start to lose some of their delicious perfume the minute they are picked. Compounding the trouble is the fact that cooling the fruit dulls and destroys even more of the fruits complex taste.

The trick for all of us is to find melons that are ripe enough to eat, luscious and still safe and wholesome.

There are more melon varieties in markets now than ever before.

Guidelines to use when selecting a melon are:

Get to know the produce purveyor at your supermarket or farmers market. You dont need to get on a first-name basis to observe this basic rule. You can learn a great deal by simply looking around the market. In a well-run market or section, fruits and vegetables are displayed in neat, attractive displays that help to preserve the flavor and freshness of the item. Signs identify produce shipped in from other parts of the state, the country or the world.

The area should be kept clean, and past-its-prime produce removed and properly discarded. This is not just for appearances sake. One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel, if it stays around long enough.

Choose melons that are heavy for their size. Pick the melon up in both hands.

Pick up a few more. Pretty soon, youll know exactly what is meant by

"heavy for its size."

Get to know your melon. Each melon variety has a slightly different appearance, smell and sound when it is fully ripe.

Cantaloupes, for instance, are known as full-slip melons. This means that, when they are fully ripe, they slip away from the vine, leaving a smooth scar on the fruit. Other varieties are cut from the vine, and there will be some of the stem intact.

You may see folks sniffing melons, shaking them to hear the seeds slosh around inside - or thumping them as they would a loaf of bread to see if it is ready to come from the oven. The melon you are buying should have some hint of a sweet melon aroma.

Melon selection, like melon growing, requires patience, skill, and a little luck.

Melon balls and more

The melon now is ready to cut into wedges to serve on the rind, perhaps with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a scattering of cracked peppercorns. Or you may wish to cut melon balls. A combination of melons, and scoops used to make balls of different sizes, can create a wonderful looking and tasting fruit salad.

To make melon balls from a halved melon: Insert the melon baller into the fruit, twisting the scoop to make a perfect round.

Continue to make balls until you have taken away a relatively even layer of melon. Slice away the scooped melon (and reserve the remaining melon flesh to make pureed smoothies or soup).

Continue to make another layer of melon balls, until as much of the melon is shaped as possible.

Melon ballers come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, from tiny scoops the size of "petit pois" (the French term for small young, green peas) to oval, fluted or scalloped scoops.

Cooking with melons

These recipes are adapted from "The New Professional Chef," Seventh

This cantaloupe soup is a surprisingly delicate and pleasant starter to any meal served on a hot summer day. Sparkling wine or seltzer may be added to the soup just before serving.

For an unusual presentation, serve the soup in wine glasses. Dip the rims of the glasses into lightly whipped egg whites, then into granulated sugar, and chill.

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