Why I Love The Summertime

Every fruit has its season, which is why I treasure all of the seasons because I get to enjoy a variety of fruits throughout the year. But the summertime is a particularly sensational season for me because I get to eat a lot of one of – if not the most – nutritious and delicious fruits around: cantaloupe.

Sure, I could eat a lot of cantaloupe throughout the year. But because cantaloupe is at the height of its season in the summer months, the cost is at its lowest, so – being somewhat of a spendthrift – I like to take advantage of its nutritional value in the summertime as opposed to other seasons when I take advantage of other in-season fruits (e.g. Oranges in the winter, for instance).

But the low cost of cantaloupe in the summertime is not the only reason I like to eat more of them then than in the spring or fall. It’s also because they are at their peak of antioxidant-richness. A study conducted at the University of Innsbruck in Austria found that the antioxidants in cantaloupe were at their highest when they were their ripest. In fact, according to their research, fruits in general were found to have more antioxidant value when they were at their ripest.

There are many other great things to appreciate about cantaloupe, including just how nutrient-dense they are, despite their low-calorie content. Just a cup of cantaloupe has about 50 calories, but that one cup contains all of the vitamin A you need in a day (and then some), all the vitamin C you need in a day (and then some), and 10 percent of the vitamin B you need in a day. Vitamin B has been in the headlines recently as researchers from Tufts University found that a significant number of Americans are believed to be deficient in vitamin B. Vitamin B is not a fat soluble vitamin (fat soluble vitamins= vitamins A,D,E,K) so it doesn’t carry the same cachet as, say, vitamin A or vitamin D. But its relative lack of “popularity” among its peers shouldn’t suggest that it’s not as important as the more well-known vitamins. In fact, someone deficient in vitamin B is more likely to be depressed, as it plays a role in the development of the neurotransmitter serotonin.

All this said, you might be unfamiliar with what makes for a truly ripe cantaloupe, thus robbing you of its full nutritional value. If cutting into a cantaloupe before you bought it were allowed, you’d know whether or not it was ripe simply by looking at its flesh. The richness of the orange and how green the rind is (the greener the rind is, the less ripe it is) would tell you all you need to know. This being against the rules – and for good reason, by the way – you can tell by the firmness of the cantaloupe. A truly ripe cantaloupe should have a little give to it when you squeeze it, but not so much give that your fingers could actually poke through its gruff exterior. Another way is to smell the cantaloupe by sniffing the cantaloupe at its stem end. It should have a sweet smell to it; if you can’t smell anything, it’s probably not going to taste like anything, either. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it, of course. Just leave it out of the refrigerator for a day or two before cutting into one.

When it comes to fruit, you can’t go wrong with cantaloupe!