My Experience with the Luxurious Crown Melon from Japan

I recently had the privilege of receiving a Crown Melon from Melissa’s Produce, and let me tell you, this $156 bad boy, referred to as the “Japanese King of Fruits” lives up to its reputation! Grown in Hamamatsu, Japan, where the region boasts the longest sunshine hours and a warm climate, Crown Melons are the epitome of elegance. Known for their delicate sweetness and unmatched juicy texture, this muskmelon is unlike any I’ve ever tasted—I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a melon this juicy.

What sets Crown Melons apart is their unique cultivation: the “one tree, one fruit” method, a 100-year-old tradition. By allowing only one fruit per sapling, all the plant’s nutrients and flavor concentrate into a single, perfect melon. Each melon undergoes rigorous inspection and sugar content analysis, ensuring only the best make it to market. You’ll know it’s authentic by the signature “T” shaped stem, and it arrives in a beautiful gift box, making it a ceremonial treat.

To check for ripeness, gently press the bottom—if it feels slightly soft, it’s ready. To prepare, cut off the bitter stem, wash your knife, then slice the melon vertically. Scoop out the seeds (I saved mine to plant in spring!), and cut into smaller sections. For the best experience, chill it in the fridge for 2–3 hours before serving. 

As a hybrid, the seeds I harvested might not yield a melon as sweet as this one, but I’m excited to try growing them in my Zone 6B garden next spring. It’ll be a fun experiment, even if the results don’t match the original’s perfection. If you ever get the chance to try a Crown Melon, don’t miss out—it’s a taste sensation worth every penny!

 

Simple Salmon Rockefeller

Fennel bulb is one of those ingredients I don’t reach for nearly enough, and every time I do, I’m reminded of just how much I adore its subtle, anise-like flavor and crisp texture. It’s a vegetable that somehow feels both underrated and luxurious, capable of elevating a dish with minimal effort. After letting it languish in my kitchen for too long, I recently rediscovered its magic in this simple yet stunning salmon recipe. Using both the bulb and the feathery fronds, this dish transforms everyday salmon into something truly special—bursting with fresh, herbaceous notes and a creamy, rich topping that’s downright irresistible. What I love most is how uncomplicated it is to prepare, despite tasting like it belongs on a fancy restaurant menu. Whether you’re cooking for yourself on a weeknight or hosting friends for dinner, this salmon with creamy fennel topping delivers big flavor without the fuss. Trust me, once you try it, you’ll wonder why fennel hasn’t been a regular in your rotation all along!Simple Salmon Rockefeller

Adapted from thekitchn.com

2 6-oz. salmon fillets
2 T. olive oil
½ t. kosher salt
¼ t. freshly ground black pepper
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ small Melissa’s fennel bulb, diced (about ½ c.)
2 scallions, sliced (white and green parts separated)
1 T. chopped fennel fronds
1 T. water
1 T. white wine
Lemon wedges for serving

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil. 

Pat salmon dry, place on the sheet, and brush with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast skin-side down* for 12-15 minutes, until it flakes easily. 

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add diced fennel and white scallion parts; cook until soft, about 4 minutes. 

Off heat, stir in cream cheese, water and wine until smooth. Add green scallion parts and fennel fronds. Adjust seasoning if needed. 

Spread the mixture over the roasted salmon (about 2 tablespoons per fillet). Broil for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned. Serve with lemon wedges. 

* I removed the skin. It’s easy if you use the hot water method.

Enjoy this effortless, tasty dish that’s sure to impress!

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Cream of Celery Soup

Celery is a vegetable that, I think, is often underestimated. It is surprisingly good for you; regular consumption may reduce inflammation markers. It may naturally lower your blood pressure, reducing the strain on your heart.  Eating it daily, as I do, provides you with a steady supply of vitamin K that supports bone density and strength. Imagine! All of these benefits, and it’s relatively low in cost as well.

When the late Mr. O-P and I were working in Dublin, we would take an early afternoon break to meet up at a local pub for lunch. It became our favorite dining spot not only because the food was quite good, but also because of the fascinating characters that we would run into along the way. One thing of theirs that I particularly liked was the cream of celery soup. I would get a cup of that as often as possible, vowing to try to replicate the recipe when we got home. One day I asked Mr. O-P if he would like to taste it. He did. I asked him how he liked it, and he said (I could not believe this response), “It sets my teeth on edge.” I grappled with that comment, I can tell you. I don’t think I have ever eaten anything that has actually set my teeth on edge. Suffice it to say, I never pursued my interest in replicating that recipe. Now that I’m on my own, and inspired by a recipe that I saw in The Cozy Christmas Cookbook, I decided to give it a shot. Am I ever pleased with the results! This is warm, soothing, and delicately delicious.

Cream of Celery Soup
Inspired by The Cozy Christmas Cookbook

¼ c. butter
1 large head celery, washed and thinly sliced
2 6-oz. pkgs. Melissa’s cleaned and sliced leeks
2 small Melissa’s celeriac bulbs (about 10 oz. total after peeling)
½ lb. Melissa’s baby Dutch yellow potatoes, halved
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. vegetable broth
½ c. chopped fresh parsley, plus more to garnish
2 c. half ‘n half
½ t. sea salt
½ t. freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add celery, leek, celeriac (a.k.a. celery root), and potatoes. Sauté for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened and lightly caramelized.

Add the garlic; stir for 30 seconds.

Add the broth, and turn up the heat. Bring to a boil, lower the heat a simmer, and cook for 15 more minutes until the celery and potatoes are fork tender. Add parsley and stir to incorporate.

Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until creamy. Stir in half-and-half. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately garnished with slices of fresh celery, and chopped parsley.

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Melissa’s Potato Leek Soup Kit

Photo credit: Melissa’s Produce

Recently, I have been telling you about all of the wonderful kits that are offered by Melissa's Produce. Another “kit” that they offer is one for making potato leek soup, available year round. Each kit consists of 2 6-ounce packages of Cleaned and Sliced Leeks, 1 3-.lb bag of Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes®, 1 3-oz. package of shallots, 1 package jumbo garlic, 1 bunch fresh thyme, and 1 bunch fresh curly parsley. (It does not include the whole leeks as shown in the picture.) Having happily used their Cleaned and Sliced Leeks in the past, I can tell you that they are a wonderful time saver.

When I received the kit, I was a bit surprised in that it wasn’t exactly a kit, per se, but all of the components used to make potato leek soup. Also, and this was a bit troublesome, there was no precise recipe for doing so. So, I developed my own recipe using the ingredients that they sent, and it is delicious! I know this is not really soup season, but the great thing about potato leek soup is that it is just as good chilled as it is warm.

 Bon Appétit!

Potato Leek Soup

(For use with Melissa’s Potato Leek Soup Kit)

 3 T. butter

2 6-oz. pkgs. Melissa’s cleaned and sliced leeks

1 shallot, peeled and smashed

3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1 3-lb. bag Baby Dutch Yellow Potatoes®, cleaned & halved

7 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/4 c. chopped parsley, reserve some for garnish

3 sprigs thyme

1 t. kosher salt

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

1 c. heavy cream

 In a medium stockpot, melt butter. Add the leeks, shallot, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until wilted, about 8-10 minutes.

 Add the potatoes, stock, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper to pot and bring to a boil. Cover, turn the heat down to medium/low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

 Remove the thyme sprigs and purée with an immersion blender until smooth. Swirl in heavy cream and serve immediately garnished with reserved parsley.

Restaurant Quality Salads at Home...with NO Effort

 

If you have been a reader of this blog for any length of time, then you are well aware that I have been a fan of, and have used, Melissa’s Produce for years. It excites me (more than I should probably admit) when they come out with something new. I was particularly excited to learn that they were coming out with a series of salad kits. 

 

Salad is one of my favorite things to eat, and one of my least favorites to make. All of that cleaning, shredding, and chopping takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. Thankfully, Melissa’s has come out with Greek, Asian, and Waldorf salad kits. I was expecting them to be good, knowing Melissa’s as I do, but these are beyond good, they are spectacular! Everything is vacuum-sealed (and I mean seriously vacuum-sealed), so that everything is at its absolute freshest. My salads were shipped to me from California over the course of a couple of days, and yet, when I opened them up and put them together, they were so fresh, crisp, and crunchy, it was as though the ingredients had only been prepped minutes before.  These are restaurant quality, but even better than that, it’s as though you have your own personal salad chef, making these up fresh just for you. Just a little PSA for all of you salad lovers out there.

 

From their website, here are the descriptions of each of the salads to clarify all that is included. I could have used a bit of feta or some Kalamata olives in the Greek Salad Essentials kit, but not enough to complain. So run, don’t walk, to your nearest grocery retailer, and pick up each one of these. If they are not available in your store, get in touch with your produce manager and request them. You won’t be sorry.

Melissa’s family-size Greek Essentials™ Salad Kit offers a convenient way for busy parents to provide a delicious serving of restaurant quality, prewashed vegetables without the time-consuming preparation and waste. Each kit comes with all the ingredients needed to make a complete salad inspired by the Mediterranean with a light mix of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and feta vinaigrette. Open, mix and serve right out of the convenient 36 oz. resealable tub to insure the freshness of a second serving.

Melissa’s family-size Asian Essentials™ Salad Kit offers a convenient way for busy parents to provide a delicious serving of restaurant quality, prewashed vegetables without the time-consuming preparation and waste. Each kit comes with all the ingredients needed to make a complete salad inspired by Asian components such as Napa cabbage, crunchy noodles and sweet sesame dressing that are tossed with red cabbage, carrots and green onions. Open, mix and serve right out of a convenient 24 oz. resealable tub to insure the freshness of a second serving.

Melissa’s family-size Waldorf Salad Kit offers a convenient way for busy parents to provide a delicious serving of restaurant quality, prewashed vegetables without the time-consuming preparation and waste. Each kit comes with all the ingredients needed to make this wonderful salad, first served at the elegant Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1893; apples, grapes, celery, walnuts and the famed Waldorf dressing. Open, mix and serve right out of a convenient 34 oz. resealable tub to insure the freshness of a second serving.

Pixie Tangerine Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

 

You know that summer’s coming when I go downstairs to the belly of the beast for the sole purpose of excavating the insert for the ice cream maker, bringing it upstairs to the freezer in the kitchen. Generally, I wait until June to make ice cream, but a recipe that I found on the Melissa’s Produce website lured me in, and I had to try it. Citrus-y, creamy, and delicious, this tastes like the Creamsicles from my youth. If you enjoyed them as much as I did, this is a must make.

Pixie Tangerine Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Slightly adapted from Melissa’s Produce

 2½ c. heavy cream

½ c. whole milk

2/3 c. granulated sugar, divided use

2 Melissa’s Vanilla Beans, split lengthwise

½ t. pure vanilla extract

2 T. Pixie Tangerine zest

4 egg yolks*

½ c. Pixie Tangerine juice

½ t. pure orange extract

 Into 3-quart saucepan, place cream, milk, and 1/3 cup of sugar.

 Scrape the seeds from the vanilla beans into the saucepan and drop in the vanilla bean pods. Stir in the vanilla extract and the tangerine zest. Heat over medium- low heat, stirring often, until small bubbles appear around the edge of the pan; remove from heat.

 In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until smooth, like a ribbon.

 While whisking, pour some of the scalded liquid into the egg mixture, continuing to whisk all the while. Add that back to the scalded liquid in the saucepan and cook over low heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

 Strain mixture into a bowl and stir in the tangerine juice and orange oil.

 Place the mixture in the refrigerator and chill completely.

 Place in an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacture’s directions.

 *Use the egg whites to make this White Almond Cake.

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Simple Sautéed Mushroom Medley

Sometimes I over think things. I think this is owed, in part, to the late Mr. O-P. Anytime we had a dinner party he wanted every dish to be perfect. He would pour over recipes, cookbooks, magazines, saved clippings, until he came up with a menu that he considered unparalleled. Nothing could be simple; everything had to be complex. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it did make some of our dinner parties rather stressful.

These days I seek simple yet elegant, flavorful yet easy. If you feel the same, then let me introduce you to the Chef’s Mix Mushroom Medley from Melissa’s Produce, featuring the world’s most delicious mushrooms - Oyster, Baby King Oyster, and Shiitake. If the fact that these mushrooms all contain iron, copper, B vitamins, and are being studied for their potential benefit to help prevent or alleviate certain cancers don’t sell you, then perhaps the fact that having these on hand takes away the heavy thinking about preparing a side dish will. This toothsome variety of mushrooms is just waiting to be sautéed in a bit of olive oil and butter. (I like to sprinkle mine with a pinch of Montreal Steak Seasoning to bring out the earthiness, but that’s just me.) This is all it takes for a nutritious, tasty, elegant side dish. They go wonderfully with beef, pork, chicken, or fish, and are also a wonderful addition to a full English breakfast. Nothing could be easier.

Simple Sautéed Mushroom Medley

1 6-oz. pkg. Melissa’s Chef’s Mix Mushroom Medley
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Pinch Montreal Steak Seasoning
Chopped fresh parsley, if desired

Remove mushrooms from package, wipe down with a soft, clean cloth; set aside. (If you prefer, at this point you may halve the larger mushrooms.) Add oil and butter to a 9-inch skillet, and heat over medium high heat until the butter starts to bubble. Carefully place mushrooms into pan, and allow them to cook 3 to 4 minutes, shaking or tossing pan gently in the doing. Dust with steak seasoning, if desired. Turn out onto a heated serving dish or plate, and sprinkle with fresh parsley if desired. Serves 1-3. Can be doubled.

PRINT RECIPE

If this isn’t fancy schmancy enough for you, then try the Lemon Pepper Mushrooms and Leeks.  Delicious and dazzling!

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