This chilled honeydew soup recipe combines honeydew melon, nonfat yogurt, and white wine vinegar for a refreshing summer appetizer. The sweet honeydew melon is blended together with the yogurt and vinegar, requiring no cooking. It can be prepared quickly and served chilled, making it ideal for hot days or last-minute guests. For contrast, slices of hard salami or other meats can be used to garnish the soup, or mint leaves provide a meatless option. Perfectly ripe honeydew is key for the best flavor, and can be identified by its subtle wrinkled skin and heavy weight.

1. SoupAla Honeydew
During hot summer days to counter the sweltering heat, make and serve this chilled honeydew
soup as an appetizer. The sweet and tasty honeydew soup is combined with nonfat yogurt and
flavored with white wine vinegar for an invigorating dish. For a salty and savory contrast slices
of hard salami are garnished on top. However, you can also use Parma Prosciutto to garnish
the soup instead of salami, or bacon bits if that is what you have in the fridge. Garnish the
honeydew soup with mint leaves instead if you want a meatless version.
Especially at the peak of its ripeness, honeydew melon, which is member of the muskmelon
family, is the sweetest type of melons. It has a smooth and creamy yellow rind and its flesh is a
pale green. It has an extraordinarily sweet, succulent and juicy flesh prized by the Egyptians
thousands of years ago. Honeydew which generally has a slightly oval shape can weigh from 4
to 8 pounds. In this recipe, together with the yogurt and other ingredients honeydew is pureed
in the blender. No cooking is required to make this soup. It can be done in a few minutes,
making it perfect for busy weekdays and for entertaining guests at the last minute. The cool
and refreshing soup stimulates the senses and also gives an energy boost.
Choose honeydew that is ripe and not those picked prematurely. Once it is picked the flesh of
this fruit won’t get any sweeter but will become softer and juicier. Perfectly ripe honeydew
can be detected by touch as it will have a subtle wrinkling on the skin’s surface. Choose
honeydew that feels heavy for its size. Do not buy the melons that are too firm or too soft.
Avoid those with dark blemishes on the skin or those with skin that is still green indicating that
it is not yet ripe.
Ingredients
1 (1 ½ lb.) honeydew melon
¾ cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 ½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 slices hard salami (chopped)
1. Peel and seed the melon then cut into cubes. Puree with an immersion blender, traditional
blender, or a food processor.
2. Add the yogurt and vinegar. Finish pureeing. Cover. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or until
thoroughly chilled.
3. Serve the soup in chilled bowls. Garnish with about 1 tablespoon of the chopped salami.