Thorn Melon Cooking: A Thorough Guide

Introduction

Thorn Melon is a wonderful and colorful addition to any budding chef's culinary repertoire. Sweet, succulent, savory, sour, sharp, soft, and sensational, varietals of this versatile fruit can be used to craft almost any taste sensation experienced by man. In this document, you will find instructions on how to properly clean and prepare Thorn Melons, what the subsequent varietals bring to culinary dishes, how to cook out the explosive toxins, and a listing of existing dishes for you to build upon.
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Preparation

NOTE: DUE TO THEIR EXPLOSIVE NATURE, ALWAYS HANDLE UNPROCESSED THORN MELONS WITH CARE! If you suspect your melon may be over ripening and approaching a critical point, contact your local domestic-emergency line for collection and disposal. It is better to lose a melon worth a tens of credits than it is to lose your life or the life of a loved one.
When it comes to the preparation of thorn melon, the key thing is to neutralize the explosive toxin responsible for one of the fruit's most well-known qualities. The process itself is simple, but it's execution can be an art form all on it's own.
Before you plan to cook the melon, you need to freeze it. This can be accomplished by placing it in a icebox the night before, or by using a simple kitchen flash-freezer. You want to make sure the fruit is frozen all the way through, as the toxin is stored in the very center of the fruit inside of the seed cavity. After you've frozen the fruit, you'll need to work quickly to avoid allowing the toxin to thaw.
Fill a small container with water and add a couple drops of any alcoholic solution. This can be any type of alcohol, ethanol, methanol, or other, but if you plan to harvest the seeds later you'll need to use an alcohol the human body can process and digest. Then, retrieve your melon and cut it in half along it's longer axis so you have two oblong halves.
Inside, you'll see the seeds are held to the flesh by a white stringy membrane and covered in a translucent blue goop. This goop is the toxin. It has a distinct sweetness to its smell, but DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT THE GOOP! It is HIGHLY toxic, and even if you survive the digestion it could still explode once it has thawed back into it's liquid form.
Take a spoon, scoop, or other similar utensil and scrape all of the seeds, membrane, and goop into your container. To harvest the seeds, place the container in the fridge for 12-24 hours. The toxic goop will separate, and float to the top of the water-alcohol solution while the seeds and membrane sink to the bottom. From there, you can..........

Varietals

Thorn Melon varietals are as varied as the worlds on which they are grown, but some of the most common varieties are included here for forming a basis of understanding this intriguing fruit.
Green Thorns of Skarkaga are sweet and refreshing to the mouth. The green in the skin is colored by a hydrophilic protein which, when introduced to heat, breaks down into large sugar chains. When properly prepared, the broken protein releases the water held within, making each bite pop with sweet juices. Consider adding Skarkaga Green Thorns to dry dishes for an added brightness.
Green Thorns of Emrelda, however, have a slight bitterness to their flavor. This makes them a better alternative than the Skarkaga varieties in already sweetened dishes. The reason for this is due to how the proteins react to the radiation from the Emreldan sun.
Oddly, Red Thorns from both Skarkaga and Emrelda have little to no difference in flavor. This is in part due to the relative lack of sweetness in a Red Thorn, and the subsequent protein that gives Green Thorns their hue. Red Thorns, instead, are high in capsaican and can be an ideal replacement for spices and peppers in dishes prepared in locales where such resources are scarce.
Yellow Thorns, with their sour rinds, can..........

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Guide, How-to

Medium

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