From intensely sweet Sugar Kiss to fragrant Ambrosia and crisp Honeyloupe, Munak Ranch brings an extraordinary assortment of peak-season melons to the farmers market.
There are few things more disappointing than cutting into a beautiful melon only to discover that it tastes vaguely sweet, watery, and not much like anything at all.
Then there are farmers market melons.
A truly ripe melon—one allowed to develop its sugars and flavor before it is picked—is an entirely different fruit. Fragrant before you even cut into it, juicy without being watery, and intensely sweet, it is one of the great pleasures of late summer.
And when melon season arrives at our farmers markets, Munak Ranch is a booth worth seeking out.
Based in Paso Robles, Munak Ranch has developed a devoted following for melons that are harvested for flavor. Their table at this time of year can look almost like a melon tasting room, with familiar favorites alongside varieties you may never encounter in a supermarket.
And choosing just one can be difficult.
Meet the Melons
Ambrosia: If the name sounds promising, the melon lives up to it. Ambrosia is a netted muskmelon resembling a cantaloupe, with pale orange flesh that is exceptionally tender and juicy. Its sweetness is accompanied by delicate floral notes, giving it a particularly fragrant, almost perfumed character.
Look for: A round to slightly oval melon with a heavily netted rind and creamy-golden undertones when ripe.
Flavor: Very sweet, succulent, floral, and aromatic.
Ananas: Ananas melons are prized as much for their fragrance as their sweetness. The name ananas means pineapple in several languages, and while the melon does not taste exactly like pineapple, its aroma and flavor can have a decidedly tropical quality. The exterior is generally netted and may resemble a small cantaloupe, while the flesh can range from pale cream to green or orange depending on the strain.
Flavor: Sweet, fragrant, slightly tropical, with floral and sometimes subtly spicy notes. This is the melon to bring home if aroma is part of the pleasure for you.
Cantaloupe: The familiar melon—but considerably more exciting when it has been grown and harvested for flavor. A ripe cantaloupe has deeply orange flesh, abundant juice, and that unmistakable sweet, musky fragrance that announces itself the moment the melon is cut.
Look for: A heavily netted rind that has lost much of its underlying green color.
Flavor: Rich, sweet and distinctly musky, with soft, almost creamy flesh when perfectly ripe. Forget the hard orange cubes from the supermarket salad bar. A peak-season farmers market cantaloupe is another fruit entirely.
Honeydew: Cool, crisp and refreshing, honeydew is the quieter counterpart to cantaloupe—but a really good one should still have plenty of character. Its smooth rind surrounds pale green flesh that is firm yet juicy. At full ripeness, the flavor is clean and honeyed rather than simply sugary.
Look for: Smooth, creamy-yellow rather than bright green skin.
Flavor: Delicately honey-sweet, clean and refreshing, with firmer flesh than cantaloupe.
Honeyloupe: Here’s one you may not know. Honeyloupe combines characteristics of honeydew and muskmelon and was developed in California. Its smooth rind resembles a honeydew, but slice it open and you find beautiful salmon-orange flesh. Munak Ranch is specifically associated with this unusual variety. The texture is somewhat firmer and crisper than a very ripe cantaloupe, with plenty of juice and fragrance.
Look for: A smooth, oval melon whose pale green skin develops creamy or golden tones as it ripens.
Flavor: Sweet and fragrant with delicate floral notes—a lovely meeting of honeydew freshness and cantaloupe richness.
Rocky Sweet: Rocky Sweet is another specialty melon that helps explain why Munak Ranch has such enthusiastic melon customers.The fruit has a netted exterior somewhat reminiscent of a cantaloupe, but inside is beautiful pale to lime-green flesh. As it ripens, the exterior shifts from green-brown toward yellow-orange and the melon becomes increasingly aromatic.
Flavor: Sweet, juicy and subtly floral, combining some of the richness of cantaloupe with the fresh character of honeydew. Its tender texture and relatively short shelf life are also part of what makes Rocky Sweet particularly suited to farmers markets, where fruit doesn’t have to be bred primarily to withstand days of shipping and storage.
Sugar Kiss: For people who judge a melon primarily by sweetness, this may be the one. Sugar Kiss has tender orange flesh and an exceptionally juicy, almost melting texture. As the name suggests, it is emphatically sweet.
Look for: A netted melon whose background color becomes increasingly creamy as it ripens.
Flavor: Intensely sweet, lush and juicy, with very soft, tender flesh. Serve this one well chilled and you hardly need to do anything else to it.
Watermelon: Then there is watermelon—the fruit that may be the purest expression of summer. At its best, watermelon should be crisp yet tender, intensely juicy and unmistakably sweet, with plenty of actual watermelon flavor rather than simply sugar and water. Munak Ranch’s watermelon has earned some particularly enthusiastic reviews around here. During a recent visit to the Aptos Farmers Market, our photographer declared it “the best watermelon he’s ever tasted.”
That is setting the bar rather high.
Fortunately, Munak is usually happy to offer samples when available, so you can conduct your own research.
And Don’t Overlook the Tomatoes
It would be easy to become distracted by all those melons and walk right past another Munak Ranch specialty: heirloom tomatoes.
Don’t.
Their display is often a spectacular collection of colors, shapes and sizes—and, more importantly, tomatoes with exceptional flavor.
Heirloom tomatoes can range from sweet and almost fruity to rich, earthy, tangy or deeply savory. Rather than choosing solely by appearance, ask what’s tasting particularly good that week. The answer may change as different varieties reach their peak.
This is the time for tomato sandwiches, tomato salads, bruschetta, gazpacho and those glorious late-summer dinners in which sliced tomatoes, good olive oil, flaky salt and a loaf of bread are really all you need.
More Melons Around the Market
Munak Ranch isn’t the only place to find locally grown melons right now. Borba Family Farms and Pinnacle are also bringing melons to market, giving shoppers an excellent opportunity to explore different varieties and growers while the season is at its peak.
And unlike supermarket shopping, there’s another advantage: you can ask the farmer.
Which one is sweetest today? Which is most fragrant? Which has the firmest texture? Which should be eaten tonight—and which can sit on the counter for another day?
Better yet, when samples are offered, taste before you buy.
Because melon season doesn’t last forever.
And once you’ve tasted a truly ripe, locally grown melon at the height of summer, that anonymous supermarket melon in January becomes considerably easier to resist.
