Make Ahead

Chilled Cantaloupe Soup

by:
July 29, 2009
5
5 Ratings
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

The recipe hails from my cookbook, The Cool Mountain Cookbook, which is a compilation of home-tested recipes from fabulous ski resorts around the country. This particular recipe is adapted from the Topnotch Resort in Stowe, VT. Although it calls for cantaloupe, a really ripe honeydew melon would make a lovely substitution. A swirl of yogurt thinned with a little milk on top would be a nice, creamy garnish. - Chef Gwen —Chef Gwen

Test Kitchen Notes

Cantaloupe soup is often overly sweet and one-dimensional. Not so with Chef_Gwen’s Chilled Cantaloupe Soup. She adds orange, lemon and lime juice to the fruit, giving it a healthy blast of acidity, and then spices the soup with cinnamon and salt. When you taste it, you first get the sweet fruit, which seems impossibly bright and refreshing, and this is followed by waves of cinnamon. The soup, which takes 5 minutes to prepare, separates as it sits, so give it a stir before serving and get it ice, ice cold. And don’t forget the mint and yogurt swirls, which aren’t merely decorative -- the yogurt enriches the soup and the mint adds a note of freshness. - A&M —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 6 cups chopped cantaloupe, about 1 (4 pound) melon
  • 1 1/2 cups orange juice
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 sprig fresh mint
Directions
  1. Place all ingredients, except for the mint, in a large bowl and stir.
  2. Place half the mixture in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour soup into a pitcher, and repeat with remaining mixture.
  3. Taste and whisk in more cinnamon, honey or even lemon juice if desired. It should taste sweet and tart, with only a hint of cinnamon. Chill the soup until ready to serve.
  4. Remove the mint leaves from the stem (discard) and stack the leaves on top of each other. Roll lengthwise into a tight "cigar." Slice crosswise into thin strips.
  5. Pour the chilled soup into six soup bowls. Garnish each with a sprinkle of shredded mint and serve.
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21 Reviews

Debbie M. August 17, 2020
Soup was delicious. My husband helped prepare it and he couldn't imagine how a melon would come out as a soup. You mentioned yogurt, but didn't say plain, vanilla, up to us. Didn't have any on hand so used sour cream. Can't say that changed it. *
Debbie M. August 17, 2020
Soup was delicious. My husband helped prepare it and he couldn't imagine how a melon would come out as a soup. You mentioned yogurt, but didn't say plain, vanilla, up to us. Didn't have any on hand so used sour cream. Can't say that changed it.
Barbara D. August 25, 2019
Loved this, but skipped the salt and honey. Drank it as a smoothie
Ann August 14, 2016
Has anyone made this a day or two ahead of serving? Planning a graduation party and need some make ahead cold soup and appetizer recipes .
Anne B. August 14, 2016
It stays in my fridge for a few days. It just needs a stir.
DeeGee August 16, 2014
Beautiful soup. Topped the bowl with skillet-crisped shards of prociutto.
Emilia R. July 29, 2013
Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!!! (Just like Melanie Griffith in "Working Girl," remember?) This is astoundingly delicious. Astounding for its simplicity. I followed the recipe to the T, but like mpm6228 below, I used cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon. (And used fresh lemon verbena, wonderfully fresh, summery flavor.) Oh, heavens, it's to die for! We couldn't stop eating... Thanks for another keeper!
Emilia R. July 29, 2013
Yum, yum! I'm thinking about serving this at my next Spanish Conversation Lunch meeting. Would be probably delicious as the soup course!
za'atar June 12, 2013
What an interesting and delicious soup! I'll admit, it was a little hard for me to think of this as a soup and not a smoothie in a bowl, but no one really cares what it is if it tastes this good.
Anne B. April 16, 2013
I've been making this for a year and I just love it!!
mmann15 August 18, 2012
We loved this, though I found one cantaloupe (as recipe suggests) to only be enough for 2 people. I cut the rest of the recipe by half and did just fine, but next time I will use 2 melons and keep the rest of the ingredients as written. By the way, my husband thought it was "good enough for dessert!"
Kathy C. July 20, 2012
I made this last night...What a winner! So delicious and I even got my husband to try it. He thought it was another example of my divine cooking...lol..little does he know how easy this recipe is! Thank you so much for this cooling treat..:) It goes in my permanent gotta-make-this-again recipe file...
sboulton July 16, 2012
I make cantaloupe soup a lot because I live in southern cal and it's always hot and melons are plentiful, but instead of regular honey, I use lavendar honey and no cinammon and the combination of the lavendar and the melon is divine.
dani June 16, 2012
I can see why it's a winner. We loved it! Like having a dreamsicle for dinner. Yummy!
102bleu May 29, 2012
this soup was just what i was looking for this spring...have a great fresh produce market open only thurs to sat and they had lovely small cantaloupes. used pineapple nectar instead of oj and it is great.
Queen B. August 30, 2011
I made this soup and found it light and refreshing. However, Drone would not even consider "cold soup", so I poured it in a mug and called it "citrus melon cooler". A neighbor had given us a loaf of blueberry bread that complemented the soup nicely.
mpm6228 June 18, 2011
I added mint from my garden, a touch of cayenne and omitted honey. Delicious. I always was turned off by the idea of cantaloupe soup until I saw this recipe.
Wicko March 23, 2011
Although it is still the dead of Winter, I decided to make this anyway and it is dee-lish. You aren't kidding about it taking 5 minutes to prepare, either. Highly recommended. Will use a little less salt next time. Thnx for a great easy recipe.
EmilyNunn October 17, 2009
I cannot wait to make this; I usually find cold soups and creative approaches to cantaloupe ridiculous: why not just eat the fruit? But this is right up my alley. Thanks for sharing it.
EmilyNunn October 17, 2009
I cannot wait to make this; I usually find cold soups and creative approaches to cantaloupe ridiculous: why not just eat the fruit? But this is right up my alley. Thanks for sharing it.
EmilyNunn October 17, 2009
I cannot wait to make this; I usually find cold soups and creative approaches to cantaloupe ridiculous: why not just eat the fruit? But this is right up my alley. Thanks for sharing it.