Salt your cantaloupe

Two thirst-quenching recipes to make all summer

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Greetings friends, and welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage! As I endured the unrelenting heat of this week, I knew that something simple and extremely refreshing was in order for today’s post, to keep us all going as the temps chug upwards. Things to brighten us, get ready for breezy revelry, and definitely no-cooking involved. Now that both have been created and tested (high marks!), I encourage you to add these to your summer cookouts, and all your summer fun.

As weather patterns continue to intensify with climate change, it is crucial to stay hydrated. Today’s combination of humidity and heat can really be perilous! We can get a lot of hydration from drinking water, sure. But there are fruits such as watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers (not a fruit but worth including), and strawberries that are comprised of surprisingly high water content. Which seems particularly well-timed because many of these ripen just when we can benefit from them most. Cantaloupe, today’s featured darling, is 90% water and is an excellent choice for staying quenched all through summer.

The salad is the kind you might make the centerpiece of an quick lunch - and just as easily devour the whole thing yourself. Or, add it as a dynamic component to a larger meal. The cocktail is lush and revitalizing. So good, for so few ingredients!

I’ve included a roster of cookout and picnic-friendly dishes below, so that if you’re planning a holiday get-together, you can be sure to make a stellar menu everyone will rave about for months to come.

Grilled shrimp with herby charred garlic bread

Summer squash + caper-mint gremolata

Spatchcock brick-grilled chicken, garlic scapes, herb sauce

Feta brine pasta salad

Bright + refreshing cold noodle salad

Crab aioli toasts

Chili-flecked fennel + feta salad

Returning to today’s feature, I have three words for you:

Salt your fruit

Salting fruit coaxes more flavor from their juicy sweetness. Think of it as an accent - a little goes a long way… In the last decade or so, the benefit of electrolytes has become widely known, validating the health benefits of adding a little salt. Electrolytes help your body regulate itself: the balance between fluids inside and outside your cells, as well as a whole host of chemical reactions in severe heat. We lose electrolytes when we sweat, so it is especially important to replenish them in hot weather. One way of doing this is to add a small amount of salt. A side benefit of doing so with fruit really does bring out more flavor - electrolytes actually cause taste buds to become more receptive!

In this salad, the bracing acidity of the vinaigrette, plus the salty, buttery Marcona almonds both deliver just the right salty hit.