Episode 9 - How to Choose and Cut a Cantaloupe

[temps105]

It'd be nice if he would show how to do this with a regular knife that people actually have at home... what the hell is that a saw?

[RVO174]

@temps105 Most people have a least a large bread knife but if you don't have anything beyond a steak knife then this technique would not be for you. Fortunately there are many ways to skin this cat, I mean melon;) Thanks for watching.

[luluoregon]

You should wash the outside before cutting it - you never know what it has been rolling around in and your knife will bring it all inside. Yuk.

[RVO174]

@luluoregon A very good point that I should of mentioned. If you look at the cutting board I did wash everything before cutting but I'll work to make that more obvious next time. The problem with cantaloupe is that even after washing, because of the deep crevices created by the netting, you can still have trapped bacteria. But washing is a must.

[raffidelicable]

giant melon ball is right! dude that was pretty wasteful, you cut away more than half the melon.

[RVO174]

@raffidelicable haha yeah. This was just a quick demo and only one way to do it. If I took too much time to do it in the video then I'd hear comments that it was too long lol. Thanks for watching.

[idaliaslink]

tadaa!.....and your left with 1/4 of it

[RVO174]

@idaliaslink ha ha. This is just one way to do it & was done quickly to demo the technique. I would expect better from someone with more time;) Thanks for watching.

[Bralor89]

helped me, thanks!

[RVO174]

@Bralor89 and thank you for watching. Glad I could help. Really pay attention to that stem area when looking for ripeness, it will help a lot. Take care.

[FIREstarter0418]

not too crazy about the cutting method, but i like the description on how to choose,..helpful thanks :)

[RVO174]

@FIREstarter0418 thanks, it was a quick cut just to demo the technique and I've taken a lot of heat about how it could of done better but that's OK. You picked up on the most important part, actually picking out one that will taste good and is ready to eat. Paying attention to that stem area will really help to ensure you get a good melon. Thanks for watching and for the feedback.

[FIREstarter0418]

@RVO174 your welcome :) sorry, was my first time seeing this cutting method, but i'm going to try it out. thanks again for the tips :))

[Uprising771]

20 percent of that cantaloupe went in the trash

[RVO174]

@Uprising771 Thanks for watching. The cut was done really fast just to demonstrate the method. Obviously you would take more time and care if you did it yourself at home. There are many ways to accomplish the same goal, this is just one. Choose a melon this way and you'll have a great cantaloupe every time. Take care.

[Uprising771]

@RVO174 your videos are full of great tips. peace.

[candido2101]

you should use the spoon

[candido2101]

what is this?

[candido2101]

stupid presentation

[hirumayoichi21]

i love cantaloupe!

[geothetwo]

funny seeing all the comments saying its wrong, I admit I wouldn't cut it like that UNLESS I am making a fruit salad or something of the sort...my prefered method is to keep the skin and make slices...

[RVO174]

@geothetwo yes it is actually funny. This is just one way to do it. I learned when working in produce for so many years that there are many ways to prepare any particular item and that by leanring them all you become a better, more skilled worker than can offer people options. Like you said, this way is good for fruit salad which and is also very efficient in an enviroment where you are offering samples. Thanks for the feedback.

[06261989]

That is not how to cut cantaloupe. Check out my only video where you can see how to cut a cantaloupe efficiently.

[RVO174]

@06261989 thanks for the feedback. This is just one way to do it and I'm glad you are sharing your own way. One way I've always learned is by sharing the techniques that other's have learned. Thanks again for watching.

[06261989]

@RVO174 You are welcome!

[jimmychauv]

How to choose a cantaloupe = thumbs up.

How to cut a cantaloupe = thumbs down.

[RVO174]

@jimmychauv ha ha Jimmy, great review. I will say that this is just one way to cut the cantaloupe and another method might work much better for home use. This method is the one we used in the produce department where I worked at the time mainly for speed, consistency and uniformity between all workers. Not to mention its fun when you are left with the biggest melon ball you've ever seen;)

I appreciate your feedback and thank you for watching the show. Take care.

Ray

[iPurgolder]

maybe it's the the lights with it but that cantaloupe is probably one of the finest I've seen

[RVO174]

@iPurgolder nope not the lights. This was a perfect one and if you know how to pick them out, by using the techniques I show here and with practice, you can find these if they are in the bin. The key as you'll notice is the stem end and weight. Thanks for the comment.

[Jinxguy1000]

Honeydew will always be superior to cantaloupe!

[RVO174]

@Jinxguy1000 yeah I think you'll find that people will like one or the other more. I prefer cantaloupe but honeydews are just as good. Thanks for the comment.

[absolutelatino79]

Thanks for showing how to pick a melon and as well cut it up. This helped me so much. What would i do without guys like u and youtube!

[RVO174]

@absolutelatino79 You Tube is great. I use it for stuff like this all the time. Thanks for watching and commenting and if you proactive this method of choosing you can get some really great melons. Take care.

[DanaDifficult]

i use my fingers to scoop out the seeds :)

[1991JMP]

i just cut the rockmelon stright in half and go at it with a spoon :P

[RVO174]

@1991JMP yummy

[durgaaa]

Eat Mellons A L O N E --never with other food OR fruits. Digestion is at stake. Look it up on Google under food combinations.

[Lich1331]

you throw away way to much of the fruit man

[RVO174]

@Lich1331 yes you are probably right. I might have to make another video because I've answered this same comment a lot as you can see below. This was just a demonstration, done before this was even a show. Hopefully the person at home would take more time;)

Thanks so much for your comment and for watching.

[Lich1331]

@RVO174 sorry that i did not read the other comments before posting. looking forward to you next vids :)

[jsimon8585]

nice, i love cantaloupe...this morning i used the juicer. Great!

[sandhollownight]

Cantaloupe tonight daddy has the car

[BlitzkriegStaffords]

i've got 16 cantalouple hills going right now and i can't wait til they are ready to harvest!

[RVO174]

@BlitzkriegStaffords cantaloupe hills, cool! Take some video;) Enjoy the harvest! Thanks for commenting.

[DJBRUCEK1]

I found this to be very informative; I wish all how-to videos were as complete!

[RVO174]

@DJBRUCEK1 Thanks so much for watching and the nice words!

[alikilko]

I really appreciate the tips about choosing a good cantaloupe. Now I know what to look for when selecting. Thanks!

[RVO174]

@alikilko So cool. That's what I'm here for. I hope the videos on my show help too. Thanks so much for commenting!

[Drover26]

@RVO174 I picked my cantaloupe , there small but, cool need to eat em though

[loganlermanrocks8]

I LOVE YOU GUYS ! i ihave always wanted to know how to cut a cantaloupe ! THANKS SO MUCH .. next can you tell us how to cut a kiwi? i haev always wanted to know ! thanks agaain!

[RVO174]

@loganlermanrocks8 We love you too!!! Here is a great site about Kiwi's including how to cut and eat them! They even have their own special spoons that I've seen them give away at stores before that allow you to cut and scoop the kiwi right out of its skin! Thanks so much for your comments.

[loganlermanrocks8]

@RVO174 cool thanks :)

[mshyper12]

I LOVE CANTALOUPES!!!!!!!!

[RVO174]

@mshyper12 I LOVE MSHYPER12 for commenting;)!!!

[bucklesmybuckles]

I agree with the other comments that there was too much waste but I like the technique. I think it's effective perhaps with better knife cuts instead.

[mansoor1222]

sorry to say, but a very wasteful method. i think 30% of the cantaloupe is gone waste.

the method of babucandyblue is a good method for cantaloupe.

the guy in this video is just a looser.... specially for cantaloupe.

[RVO174]

@mansoor1222 hey LOSER, you spelled it wrong;) It's sad how easily you just embarrassed yourself. Thanks for the comment. No really.

[menderfire9]

@RVO174 You would have sounded more mature if you had let the loser comment drift by instead of shooting back with more name calling and cheap shots. It is such a turn off to watch nice videos and reading the comments are usually so helpful, but then the video maker shows his bad side and snipes back at a nasty comment.

just saying

[RVO174]

@menderfire9 Yes I would agree with you but I'm not perfect and in this case I could not resist pointing out the fact that they could not even spell their attempt at a cut down correctly. It actually was too funny for me to let slide.

I've replied to every comment made here and try to answer all the communities questions. This was my first negative response to a comment and I apologize for that. You are right that the best practice is to let them go without acknowledgment. I'll try harder.

[beekay05]

not really a perfect way to cut...too much fruit is wasted.

[RVO174]

@beekay05 Hey thanks for the comment. I replied to this same comment earlier but the basic message was this is just one way to do it. If you take extra time which I didn't do here so that I spend too much time in the video, you can cut off the rind this way with little to no waste. Or you could just cut in half and scoop until you have rind on your spoon. Thanks again for watching.

Ray

[xenobaka]

Sorry, didn't notice that bubucandyblue already commented the same thing.

[xenobaka]

IMHO, your cutting method is quite wasteful.

I like to cut the melon in half, carefully remove the seeds with a spoon (carefully and not scraping everything out like what you did because the inner part of the melon is in fact the sweetest) and then cut the melon into wedges with the skin on. I either serve it like that or I then fillet the meat out with a fillet knife to get as close to the skin as possible.

[TheGloryofMusic]

People don't let melons get ripe enough. With the exception of watermelon, they should be soft, and especially canary melon and galia melon.

[JoJo12522]

Thank you!

[bubucandyblue]

it looks a little weird to me. i cut it in half, take the seeds out softly with a spoon, and then eat half with a spoon, carving with it till the peel. if i have guests, those halves are cut into smaller pieces on it's length (imagine an apple cutter with equal pieces) and then slide the knife underneath the peel. you are wasting too much of the goodies.

[RVO174]

Yep, that's yet another way to do it:) I used that technique at work many times and its very effective. The one shown in the video is just one way to do it. Thanks for sharing your method.

The one in the video takes practice, and when you get good at it you can cut away the rind with little to no waste.

Thanks again for the comment!

-Ray

[bubucandyblue]

My pleasure, glad you keep up with updates on comments :)

I though in the video you should have cut the peel in smaller inches, to waste as less as possible, but it is a video after all, to teach the people a few tricks in less time, and they will get the basic point and go further by themselves. So you did a good job from that point of view!

[laclairlover]

thanks. that was easer than i thought

[e3cell]

tengkiu man... nice video... :D

[vsn011]

Awesome. Now I can cut a cantaloupe properly. Every time I've tried to do it I can never get it in nice bite sized pieces. Thank!

[vicky8949]

very informative :] and good thing i watched it before i tried cutting mine

[scir91]

good detailed video

[RVO174]

Thanks again scir91. I'm almost done with the next episode. I hope you check it out, it's about the cactus pear!

[scir91]

cactus pears are DELICIOUS but they are also very costly per serving. almost 79 cents for ONE!

[brian8793]

Some of the best canteloupes I've ever had, had soft spots on them.

[RVO174]

Yeah it sounds like you just like a really ripe cantaloupe. The soft spot itself isn't that tasty but the parts of the melon that aren't rotting still taste good because the melon is really ripe. Thanks for the comment.

[ruport]

Very useful, I only wish i had watched this before attempting it and failing :P

[RVO174]

Thanks for you comment Ruport. I hope your next attempt is met with success! Soon you'll be a pro.

[mlib27]

Thanks for posting. We all appreciate you taking the time. The beauty of YouTube is that if you're not sure how to do something, you can look up a video and find out, thanks to people like yourself who share the knowledge. Great job and keep 'em coming. Kiwi? What kind of knife is that? It seems flimsy (in a good way), but yet really sharp and effective.

[RVO174]

Thanks for the comment mlib27. I think I started making these videos because like you I love what the internet has to offer and I wanted to be part of that. You can always find the answers to your questions and I hope I'm helping too. I'll try to get a kiwi on the show soon. The knife in the video is a 12 inch Dexter Russel and is pretty firm as you'll see in episode 5 where I use it to open a coconut. You can buy one at the blog "Produce Picker Blogcast"or contact me.

Thanks again,

Ray

[tommyblunt]

thanks for posting, this video was really helpful!

[RVO174]

Hey Tommy thanks a lot for watching! I hope the other videos I have as well as the ones I will make, will help as well or at least entertain. Take care,

Ray a.k.a. The Produce Picker

p.s. Thanks a lot for commenting as well!!