In the late days of summer, you’ll find cantaloupes at the market that are ready to be enjoyed at the peak of ripeness. But unlike other summer produce like cherries and peaches, you can’t just pop a cantaloupe into your mouth or take a bite immediately. First you’ve got to remove its rind and cut it up.

How to Pick a Cantaloupe

It’s easy to cut cantaloupe into beautiful wedges, slices, cubes or even a fancy decorative bowl. Before cutting, scrub the rind thoroughly with a produce brush under running water and rinse well. This removes bacteria from the surface of the rind to prevent food-borne illness, so your knife doesn’t transfer any potential germs to the inner flesh.

FYI, this method also works for other round melons like honeydew, canary melons and even watermelon!

How to Cut a Watermelon

How to cut a cantaloupe into slices or wedges

Hold the melon to keep it stable on your cutting board so it doesn’t roll.

With a sharp chef’s knife, cut a small sliver off both the stem and blossom ends of the cantaloupe so it’s flat on the top and bottom.

Casey Barber

knife slicing top of cantaloupe on wooden cutting board

Cutting rind off cantaloupe with knife on wooden cutting board

Turn the cantaloupe on its side and cut it in half.

Peeled cantaloupe sliced in half

Use a spoon to remove the seeds and pulp from the center cavity of each cantaloupe half.

Using spoon to scoop seeds and pulp out of a cantaloupe

Turn the cantaloupe over once more so the large flat side is against the cutting board. Cut into thin slices or wedges as desired.

Cutting cantaloupe into wedges

How to cut a cantaloupe into cubes

Then stack the wedges and cut into cubes.

Cutting cantaloupe into cubes on a wooden cutting board

How to cut a fancy cantaloupe bowl

Slice the stem and bottom ends off the cantaloupe as shown above, but don’t remove the rind.

Instead, use the tip of your knife to carefully cut in a zigzag pattern through the “equator” of the cantaloupe. Make sure to insert the knife deeply enough to get to the center of the cantaloupe, but not so far through that it pokes out the other side!

Cutting cantaloupe with a zigzag pattern on a wooden cutting board

After you’ve cut the whole way around the cantaloupe, gently pull the two halves apart. Scoop out the seeds as shown above.

Cantaloupe cut into a fancy bowl

You can fill the cantaloupe with other fruits like strawberries or cherries, melon balls, or just scoop out the melon flesh and eat it on its own.

Cantaloupe bowl filled with strawberries

Now that you know how to cut up a melon, check out all of ourhealthy cantaloupe recipesand othermelon recipes.

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