Winter Melon Soup.

[Denninmi]

Now cooking in my crockpot. Chicken stock base, with ham, onion, garlic, ginger, baby corn, mushrooms, celery, water chestnuts, dried red pepper, and of course, the chunks of winter melon, which is actually NOT in the photo, since I only add that about the last 30 minutes, otherwise, it can fall apart. Noodles of some type would be good in here, but I don't have anything Asian in nature on hand.



Sorry, it's a little blurry. I'll try to post a better photo of the finished product.

This is about half of my 2010 winter melon crop:

[yellerpup]

1. That looks good blur or no blur!

I've never tasted winter melon. Is it like a summer melon or more like a squash?

[Denninmi]

2. Winter melon -- flavor is neutral.

It really doesn't have anything to do with a "melon" per se, they just call it that I guess because the seeds are all in the center like a melon.

The flavor is very neutral/bland, almost exactly like summer squash/zucchini. You could use it any way you could use summer squash, raw in a salad, shredded into a slow, or with a dip or spread, or cooked in any of the various ways you would cook either summer squash or eggplant.

[Denninmi]

3. RE - typo above.

Meant to say "shredded into a slaw" not "shredded into a slow" - sorry about that, I'm a little slow myself at times.

[yellerpup]

7. Thanks.

Mr. Pup had a winter stew in our local Pan-Asian restaurant last week with mango, red pepper, some other stuff I didn't notice, and jicama. The jicama wasn't distinctive tasting, but added a nice not-quite-crispy crunch that tasted a little between water chestnut and bamboo shoots. I'll pick up a winter melon and try your soup when I get the chance. Thanks again for the clarification. :hi:

[Lucinda]

4. That's a very tasty looking blur!

Nice crop too! Do they store well?

[Denninmi]

5. RE: Storage.

Said to last up to a year in cool, dry storage. So far, so good, I've had a couple start to rot, but most of them are fine. This is my first year that I had any -- tried before, but nothing grew due to drought. This year, they were happy and did well. I'm anxious to see just how long they will keep myself. I've got them in my basement up on a wire shelf so air can flow all around them.

[Lucinda]

6. Sounds like a smart way to store them! Hope they winter well.

We didn't plant anything this past year and I miss my little garden. I've been thinking about starting some herbs indoors. I NEED fresh basil. :)

[Denninmi]

8. Finished product.

I found some ramen noodles in the cupboard, and stuck them in there just for something. I don't mind cooking with them, and keep them on hand, but I always throw out the nasty packets of salt/msg that come with them.

This is what it looks like. The translucent chunks on top are the cooked winter melon.