The Melon

Gorgeous and authoritative, this guide to one of the most diverse food crops humans cultivate celebrates a dazzling array of melons and watermelons (which are two different species).

Award-winning melon grower Amy Goldman, the author of three previous books honored by the American Horticultural Society Book of the Year award, spent nine years working with photographer VIctor Schrager to create entries on 125 different melon varieties. In addition to the marvelous photographs—many of them taken in Goldman's barn, not far from where she raised the melons—there are entries describing the common and scientific names, the history of their cultivation. their typical size and weight, their sugar content, when they tend to mature, their keeping qualities, and of course, their flavor.

The names themselves conjure magical eating as well as the simple joys of farming life: Boule d'Or, Collective Farm Woman, Early Moonbeam, Eden Gem, Golden Gopher, Hero of Lockinge, Minnesota Midget, Schoon's Hard Shell, Striped Armenian, Sweet Freckles, and Trifecta.

There are recipes as well but it's hard to imagine doing anything other than simply eating these unadorned.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.