Agree. I don't wash a pineapple before I peel it either.
If I had just picked the melon in a muddy field I may wash it but I see no reason to soap & water the exterior if I'm just going to peel it and throw the rind away, not eat it.
I agree with blondiebrownie above - my 1964 edition has basically the 2006 recipe for chicken divan. Look at used booksores for an old Joy of Cooking.
It's gotta be livermush. A North Carolina favorite - sliced thin and pan fried.
Another reason not to use pre-cut melons: when you put the leftover pieces (if any) in a container for later use, the rind from one slice will invariably touch the slice next to it.
It may sound weird to those of you who insist on NOT washing, but it absolutely isn't weird. Check out any of the YouTube videos re lemons and bacteria and you will immediately be washing every piece of fruit or vegetable in your fridge.
I agree, soap is probably not necessary, but that veggie wash or the water/vinegar combo will work well.
I have heard that soap can leave a residue. I always use this veggie wash spray - it does the trick (you should see the color of the water after I wash strawberries with this stuff!). http://www.veggie-wash.com/ I put my produce in a bowl, spray on a bit of the wash, run some water in the bowl and agitate for a minute or so, then rinse several times until the water is clear.
@FastFoodCritic: I wash bananas before peeling because whatever is on the banana skin would be transferred from my hands to the fruit. Next time you slice one into your cereal, consider how the banana travels from Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras, the Philippines, Panama, or Guatemala (see http://www.banana.com/farming.html) to your market, and what dreck the fruit has collected on its way. Blech!
i never wash anything. im just kind of gross like that. i think im slightly hydrophobic.
Of course I wash melons before I eat them. The knife goes through the skin and carries whatever was on the skin onto the flesh.
I don't know why soap, unless it's antibacterial, would help. But I do rinse everything well with water - less to get rid of foodborne illness risk (which, as spinach taught us, rinsing won't take care of), than to wash off pesticide residue (for non-organic food) or other people's hands residue. The five seconds it takes to wash a melon, an avocado, or a lemon seems worthwhile - all three of these are generally cut through the rind before preparing, so obviously any dirt/residue is being drawn on the knife through the edible part. I have never washed a banana, though.
Yes, I wash them, the knife is going through the outer rind that have been sitting in a bin at the market, where it's potentially been handled (not to mention the trip to market, passing through who knows what?). Takes a minute, insures my health.
unless they are obviously dirty (as in, i can see some dirt on 'em), I don't wash melons (or bananas, or kiwis, or oranges, or anything where i'm not going to eat the outside). why wash the rind, i'm not going to eat it.
foodborne illnesses, gunk on the rind getting onto my knife and then onto the melon, blah blah blah.
immune system. exposing it to itty bitty little melonny bits only makes it stronger. let it be known though, that i was also one of those kids who ate worms, dirt, orange rinds, acorns off the ground, and crabapples off the tree.
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