Cold Cucumber Melon Soup

September 15, 2019 • Nancy Wolfson-Moche
Eight days from the autumn equinox, and summer is still in the air. If you garden in the northeast, you know that growing sweet melons doesn’t come easy. They need a string of long, hot summer days to fully mature. They might still be mini-melons come September. If you can’t harvest them by September’s end, you compost them and vow to try again next year. If all systems fired this year and you now have perfectly ripe melons, make this late-summer breakfast soup now! You can make it the night before and serve it with a piece of sourdough bread, steamed and topped with tahini, or with a corn muffin.
INgredients to serve 4-6
  • 1 small to medium ripe honeydew melon
  • 2 Persian or one large hothouse cucumber, seeded
  • 6 ounces organic whole milk yogurt, goatgurt or vegan coconut yogurt
  • Pinch sea salt
  • Freshly ground white pepper (to taste, if desired)
  • 6 sprigs fresh mint (4 in soup and 2 for garnish)
  • 6 basil leaves
  • ½ cantaloupe, for garnish
  • 6 chives, for garnish
  • 1 lime
Process
  1. Cut the honeydew melon in half.
  2. Remove the seeds. Chop the flesh into large bite-size pieces.
  3. Peel and seed the cucumber and then chop the cucumber into similarly sized pieces.
  4. Use a blender or Vitamix to puree the honeydew, cucumber, yogurt, sea salt, 4 of the mint sprigs, basil (if using) and pepper until smooth.  If pressed for time, add a few ice cubes to the blender.
  5. Transfer to a large glass jar or bottle and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
  6. Use a melon ball scoop to form balls from the cantaloupe flesh and set aside.
  7. Chop the remaining mint or leave it whole (for garnish) and set aside.
  8. Pour the soup into individual festive glasses and add a generous squeeze of lime juice. Garnish with the melon balls, nasturtium flowers, fresh mint, basil, and chopped chives.
Pour it into a thermos and bring it to work or for a breakfast picnic with friends.
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Icing on the Cake: Testimonials

I loved Ms. Nancy’s cooking class so much.! I have been in this cooking class for two years and I would love to sign up for another one. I tried a lot of new foods like winter squash, cardamom, Brussels sprouts and kale. My favorite salad was the kiwi, carrot, radish salad.
Not only did we cook and eat, we also did labs about food. We used rulers to measure the size of plants. We also explored stone fruits and their ripe season. Now in my house we have window boxes and I am growing cherry tomatoes and basil.
I learned that we can use a lot of different tools to cook, not just our hands and senses. We used safety knives, potato peelers and a carrot sharpener (I wonder if you could sharpen a pencil with it?) !!!
Because of this class I can help papi make dinner and I will try any new food at least once to see if I like it. Thank you, Ms. Nancy for making cooking fun and interesting and helping me be excited about food.

- Love, K (a 7-year-old boy).