Now that’s a great looking grape!
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Anyone want to give me tips about picking melons? My pick rate is just ok and when I ask the stand helpers to do it, it usually is always not great.
I usually push on skin feeling for ripeness, smell it for fragrance, look for ones that have slight discoloring because they have dropped onto the ground (meaning they are ripe and heavy), and hold it to see if it feels heavy.
Also which melons are really good right now?
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Weiser Family Farms melons are the way to go. I never remember the exact names but their green and orange melons are delicious. I ask them to pick out a couple for me when I hit the stand and that’s worked for the last few years.
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I’ve been getting Munak Ranch Rocky Sweet Melons.
If I don’t smell fruit funk coming thru that spot on the bottom I let it sit for a few days before cutting.
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i was told at some point that you have to look for melons without any vine attached, example below:
because that means that the melon reached sufficient ripeness and naturally detached itself, and melons will not grow any sweeter off the vine (although their texture/juiciness will continue to evolve post-vine)
this criterion coupled with decent fragrance, coupled with a slight softness around the detachment spot, has given me a 100% success rate, but also very low likelihood of finding good melons (at a vons e.g., very very rare. at places that are getting melons from local farms, when its in peak season, maybe 1-2 melons in every 10-15)
*works for all non-watermelon melons
**probably you can still get good melons without being so strict about the vine, but i would rather eat no melon than unripe melon…
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Thanks great tips I will try to get a melon this weekend and report back.
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I grow those in my backyard. So sweet and fragrant.
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Yum
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Coke Farm Organic Strawberries
I have a confession to make. Sometime over the summer I started buying Coke Farm’s Strawberries ($6.50) instead of Harry’s. 
I LOVE Harry’s but they’re so small and delicate that I got tired of them going bad before we could finish them. Coke’s are sweet and so fragrant, but importantly they’re firm and last a lot longer. Can I still participate on this thread?
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This is the wrong thread. Haha. I haven’t bought Harry’s this year. We were blessed with lots of flats from the Camarillo farms. Not as good as Harry’s but much higher QPR.
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I switched my allegiance to tamai no sprays but they haven’t had any the last couple weeks.
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Haha I thought about putting it on that thread but figured I’d put here with my farmers market homies. 
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Yeah, strawberry season’s winding down. 
My latest batch wasn’t quite as sweet as last month.
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I put a fig on a plate… a white one and to be even more groundbreaking I added humboldt fog cheese. I’m just full of horrors today.
Arugula, Frisée, Caramelized Pedro’s Organic Ranch White Kadota Figs, Humboldt Fog Cheese, Candied Walnuts, Spicy Sherry Honey Vinaigrette. It was delicious! 
Caramelized for about 3-4 minutes on each side (med-high) in Ghee, Palm Sugar & Vanilla.
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I SO appreciate this confession! I’ve been struggling with the guilt myself. I still perfer Harrys and when they come to me via Locale, they are SUPER fresh. But like you, no matter if I used them for my yogurt daily… they would get soupy by the end of a week. I just composted them and considered that this was just the cost for that FIRST amazing bite from the first day I got them.
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Good philosophy. Maybe I’ll get one more clamshell of Harry’s before the season ends and enjoy them while they’re good. 
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They last longer if you store them in a Tupperware-like airtight container with paper towels between the layers. I learned that from a Harry’s employee years ago.
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Yeah ideally you want them all in a single layer with no moisture sitting on them.
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