Cantaloupe Cool

We are all about picking a better snack, and what better way to kick off the school year with a football sized fruit. The students are learning about cantaloupes in September. 🍈

Each month, our nutrition educators curate a take home guide to extend classroom education into the home. Get ready to learn more about this juicy, orange summer fruit, the cantaloupe.

History

Europeans brought this fruit to the Americas in the 1400s, in 1900s the cantaloupes were planted in Fallon, Nevada bringing lots of production by the 1930s. But the their beginnings can be traced back to Persia and northern Africa more than 4000 years ago.

Nutrition Facts

Eating a 1/4 of a whole cantaloupe provides:

more than 120% of daily vitamin A needs
🍈 Vitamin A helps keep eyes and skin healthy🍈
80% of daily vitamin C needs.
🍈 Vitamin C helps fight off germs🍈

Shopping Tips

For a fresh ready to eat cantaloupe:

choose one beige in color, not a lot of green spots
touch test and pick one not too firm or too soft
smell the stem and look for a fresh sweet smell

Recipe

Go ahead try a cantaloupe smoothie this month! 🍈 🍌 Be sure to wash the cantaloup good because its bumps and grooves can hold bacteria. Blend until smooth:

1 cup of frozen cantaloupe
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 teaspoon of honey

Chef Suzy has some tips in this video below.

Each month the Produce Pick of the Month program is delivered to third grade students in 13 Title I schools. You can keep nutrition education in clark county schools by texting 30yearsoflove to 243725 to support Chefs for Kids.