I’ve got to be honest with you.  Prior to this post, I’ve never frozen cantaloupe.  But when I needed a quick solution to preserve a large amount of unexpected cantaloupe, freezing came to the rescue!

My story begins with this “not so attractive” rubbish bucket.  I stop once a week or so at a local farm stand and take their “past the point of being able to sell” produce and feed it to my chickens.

That day, the owner of the stand pointed to a large bin of cantaloupe and asked me if I would take them all, stating that they weren’t all bad, but too unattractive to sell.

I took home about 50 melons that day!

When I got home, my daughter-in-law and I went to the process of rinsing each melon in some soapy water and cutting into them to see if they were edible for us. (Yes, all of this was done right on the tailgate of my truck! Ha!)

We had 2 large bowls for any fruit that could be fed to the family…and we completely filled both bowls up!  We were able to salvage about 20 melons for the family’s consumption!

Hence, my need for a fast way to preserve these (good but soft) melons was paramount!  Freezing to the rescue!

Freezing cantaloupe is just as easy as freezing just about any other fruit.

You’re going to need some cookie sheets, a good knife, freezer bags and of course, a freezer.  Simply cut your melon in half, then peel and remove seeds.

I like to cut my melon in “moon shaped” pieces, then into 1/2″ pieces that can be placed directly on your cookie sheet.  No need to grease the cookie sheet.

Once cut, pop your melon-covered cookie sheets into the freezer for about an hour or so, until small ice crystals start to form.

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Then, using a strong spatula, scrape the frozen melon off of the cookie sheets and place into gallon-sized plastic bags.

Squeeze your bag to make sure you’ve got all the air out.

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Label and freeze your cantaloupe!  It’s that easy!

We love smoothies around here and I can’t wait to enjoy these melons this winter!