I’m enjoying summer fruits, so when I saw a hundred-year-old recipe for Cherry and Cantaloupe Cocktail, I decided to give it a try. This recipe is actually actually a recipe for a fruit mixture, or a fruit cocktail.
Pre-prohibition fruit cocktails often contained a little alcohol, but during prohibition (and afterwards), fruit juice or sugar syrups were instead used. In this recipe, pitted sweet cherries are mixed with cantaloupe balls, and then a mixture of orange and lemon juices is poured over it.
The Cherry and Cantaloupe (Fruit) Cocktail was tasty and refreshing. It is a lovely summer fruit salad.
Here’s the original recipe:
My melon baller scoop has two scoops; one at each end. I used the smaller scoop to make the cantaloupe balls. To make a nice round ball, press the scoop deeply into the cantaloupe before twisting to make the ball.
The old recipe’s implied serving size seems small. In the directions, it says that the cherries and cantaloupe mixture should be served with 1 tablespoon of orange and lemon juice mixed. There is 1 cup of the juice mixture (1/2 cup orange juice + 1/2 cup lemon juice) and there are 16 tablespoons in a cup, which suggests this recipe makes 16 servings. However, 6 cups of cherries and cantaloupe divided by 16 would make each serving only a little over 1/3 cup which seems really small. I think that a serving size of 3/4 cup would be more reasonable, which suggests that 2 tablespoons of juice should be spooned over each serving.
In any case, this recipe makes a lot of servings, so when I updated it, I halved the recipe, and used 3/4 cup as the serving size.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Cherry and Cantaloupe Cocktail
1 1/2 cups sweet cherries, pitted
1 1/2 cups cantaloupe balls
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
Step 1. Arrange the pitted cherries and cantaloupe balls to make an attractive fruit mixture in serving cups or bowls
Step. 2. Put the orange juice and lemon juice in a small bowl.
Step 3. Spoon 2 tablespoons of juice over each serving of the fruit mixture.
A nice summer treat.
It is a lovely summer treat.
I wouldn’t have expected cantaloupe and cherries to be ready at the same time. But after checking, I found that they do overlap. It does sound like a simple and tasty treat.
Thanks for researching. When I did the post, I also wondered whether cantaloupe and cherries ripen at the same time – particularly within the context of a hundred years ago, but didn’t actually research it. I guess that I ended up just assuming that there was an overlap since it didn’t seem like there would be an old recipe that called for both fruits if there wasn’t.
I wasn’t sure if the cantaloupe had to be shipped from Florida by train.
I never have enogh patience to make melon balls!… In my head pretty triangles of cantaloupe and round cherries sound much more doable and also cute!
I like your suggestion. Triangles of cantaloupe and round cherries would make a nice presentation.
Nature’s candy in a bowl, and I think melon and cherries are the ultimate summer love story!
:} What a fun way of thinking about this fruit mixture.
That’s a nice combination and I haven’t had a fruit cocktail in a long time. It’s so good in the summer.
Summer’s the perfect time for fruit cocktails.
I can imagine this being so refreshing… Happy summer!
It was refreshing. Happy summer to you, too! (though now that I think about it, I probably should be wishing you happy winter. Do people give happy winter wishes?)
Haha… Never have I ever, Sheryl, received a ‘happy winter wish’. 🤭