First, buy your cantaloupes in July or August. Second, buy them on the side of the road, out of the bed of the pick up truck that brings them from Pecos county. Doing it any other way leads to tears.
How about buying one from the store and letting it sit in the fridge for a week. Do they ripen like that?
sorry, I know this sounds like a stupid question. I obviously know how fruit ripens, but never had a cantaloupe long enough to tell if it ripens or not in the fridge.
Same here.
You’re right about this, for sure. I only buy them in season from a local farm market. Even so, it pays to search for the right one.
In my experience, they don’t. They just go from unripe to rotten and still unripe. Ripening fruit on the vine is a thing for this reason.
No. Melons don’t ripen once they’re picked. Melons meant for supermarkets are always picked early so they’ll make it to the store, but this also means there’s literally no such thing as a ripe melon in the supermarket. If you find one, it’s because someone made a mistake.
Using either a small baggie with a closure that is a complete seal (not a slider or tuck-over) seems to work for me. Alternately, I have a stack of plastic containers of different sizes, with lids, on the counter, and those work, too. Sometimes I’ll store garlic and pepper parts with onion parts, since I often cook with them together.
i use enough onions that they rarely spoil in the fridge. Sometimes I’ll chop them up and freeze them anyway. If the chopped veggie parts are small, frozen ones warm up quickly when needed, and most can be broken off in small chunks from bigger ones without thawing the entire package.
Well damn 
Humph. I didn’t know that.
I will use the “smell the stem end” thing, but sometimes I just ask the guy who’s working in the produce section. 
We don’t have bunches of farm stands here. We do have supermarkets on every corner. Also <confessing> I sometimes buy the container of cantaloupe chunks that are already cut up. Same with watermelon. So sue me.
They do mature in some ways off the vine. I would assume for only a few days, and refrigeration may just stop that process. But the meat will get a little softer and a little sweeter. But that doesn’t help much at the grocery store, those melons have been there a long time and were picked way too soon. Of course that may not be the case if you live closer to the source, up here in the northeast we take our chances with produce.
Now if you have a ripe melon that’s not sweet or tender just do what restaurants do and soak the cut fruit in sugar water. Then swear you’ll never waste your money on another grocery store cantaloupe until the next time.
I’ve found some onions keep after cutting, better than others. A red onion will keep longer. Yellow onion cut and not sealed in a matter of a couple hours will smell up the fridge if not the whole kitchen. White onion can be almost as bad. Even sealed ziplock bags sometimes are not good enough.
I agree no melon in the grocery will ever be ripened.
I always think of doing this, because I don’t normally use up a whole cantaloupe. But the cut up containers are like 5 or 6X the price of a whole cantaloupe and I refuse to waste that amount of money.
Someone suggested to me to use the “Salad Bar” cantaloupe, maybe I’ll give that a try.
Salad bar options can be handy when you need a few ingredients for a recipe. But don’t scrutinize the cost too carefully. OTOH, if you buy a big container of something and only use part of it and never use the rest of it, that’s waste, too, amirite?
I do have the same “I refuse to pay that!” button for different things, but sometimes I override it.
Although once I went into a bakery and ordered four croissants and when the guy said, “That will be $16.00,” I said, “WHAT? They’re FOUR DOLLARS APIECE?? Are you KIDDING me? That’s insane!” And told him to put them back in the case.
Good lord, were they made with rare organic yak butter or something?
There’s like a pound of butter in each croissant.
Cantaloupes do ripen after they’re harvested. The problem is that many supermarket melons go from unripe to rotten without any step in between.
The scent test is the best. If you can smell cantaloupe, even a little, it’s OK. If there’s no scent, leave it. Also, an unripe one will have more green in between the outside “netting.” If it’s brown, then it’s more likely to be ripe.
Sometimes, living in Kansas does have it’s advantages. I never have a problem finding ripe cantaloupe when it’s in season.
Onions I just wrap very loosely in paper towel.
And here’s a cite to support your claim. Note that the level of sugar will not change, only the texture.
Now that’s interesting. And different. So you do believe in air circulation?
While we’re pondering that, here’s my next question: how do **you **keep bread? I’m a household of one. Not that I couldn’t go through a loaf of regular sandwich bread or a couple of baguettes in two days, but as a type 2 diabetic, I am endeavoring to low-carb. So I may have a sandwich with one slice of bread. Or not have bread for a couple of days. I definitely won’t have bread twice in one day.
I don’t buy the long, white 1.5-lb Wonder-Bread type loaves, but I’ll get the pseudo-artisan, branded smaller loaves. Or the Genuine Artisan bakery loaves, which are about 1 lb. I’ve been known to interleave the slices with pieces of parchment, re-bag, and put in the freezer, so I can easily take out one frozen slice at a time. That’s the best thing I’ve come up with. Baguettes (especially Trader Joe’s multigrain baguettes) I’ll cut into four pieces and slice through the middle, then pile all of them into a freezer bag. Thaw for 12 seconds in microwave, open flat, and toast. Anyone got something different?