Cucumber Cantaloupe Salad

Sven Gustafson

| 2 min read

cantaloupe
The school buses rumbling down your block may signal that summer is over, but the calendar says otherwise. September is still peak harvest season here in Michigan — easily the best time of year if you like fresh and locally grown food. Both of the key ingredients here are in season now.
20130903_142006
This side dish came together partly out of serendipity and partly from my kitchen-sink approach to making salads and slaws. I’ve been making this without the melon for several weeks now as a way to keep pace with all the cucumbers ripening in my backyard garden. Then I saw a container of cubed cantaloupe and decided to combine the two to make space in the fridge.
Voila! The melon adds a sultry sweetness and a bit of color contrast to what is otherwise a perfectly satisfying salad on its own. Together with the cucumbers and onion, the result is a light, cool and refreshing salad that would work well with grilled food, as a side salad for lunch or at a picnic.
Because I rarely make anything the exact same way twice, I’m guesstimating the amounts here and playing loose with the exact ingredients. You could even add a salty cheese, like feta, and I’d bet the results would be pretty wonderful. I like to make a big bowl of this and use it throughout the week.
For more refreshing salads, check out these posts:

A Healthier Michigan is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit, independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
No Personal Healthcare Advice or Other Advice
This Web site provides general educational information on health-related issues and provides access to health-related resources for the convenience of our users. This site and its health-related information and resources are not a substitute for professional medical advice or for the care that patients receive from their physicians or other health care providers.
This site and its health-related information resources are not meant to be the practice of medicine, the practice of nursing, or to carry out any professional health care advice or service in the state where you live. Nothing in this Web site is to be used for medical or nursing diagnosis or professional treatment.
Always seek the advice of your physician or other licensed health care provider. Always consult your health care provider before beginning any new treatment, or if you have any questions regarding a health condition. You should not disregard medical advice, or delay seeking medical advice, because of something you read in this site.