9 Uses for a Melon Baller
Actual Melon Balls may exist purely as 60’s kitsch and hotel buffet decorations, but your kitchen truly isn’t complete without one of these cheap little half hemispheres of cooking goodness. They come in several standard sizes. I recommend a double ended one with one scoop about as big as a large grape and the other a little smaller than a golfball.
No matter what you use your melon baller on, you’re going to be twisting your wrist a lot. Get a machine washable one with a comfy handle. Don’t be afraid to press hard before you twist. After all, your goal is to bend these foods to your will.
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Meatballs – this is why you need the golfball sized one. Seriously. Spritz a little non-stick spray in the scoop and suddenly you have perfectly round meatballs without your hands turning to prunes or getting meat gunk stuck under your fingernails.
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Cookies – the smaller melon baller makes great normal human sized cookies. It’s hard to find a cookie that isn’t the size of a small plate anymore. Use the small melon baller to make perfectly round cookies you can munch guilt free.
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Bell Peppers – melon ballers are great for scooping the seeds and ribs out of whole peppers. No mucking around at awkward angles with a knife or poking through the skin when you reach the bottom. Just rip and go.
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Cucumbers – the big end of yoru double melon baller is just the right size to rip right through the middle of a sliced cucumber, lickity split. No seeds, no muss.
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Apples and Pears – this is a cheap and easy way to core your fruits. Just slice them in half, use the melon baller on the seed area, and voila – all fruit, no pit. You might have to dig twice, but that’s still easier than having a dedicated corer cluttering up your kitchen drawer.
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Table Settings – this is a cheap way to really schmancy up your holiday table or apologize by candlelight for accidentally backing out of the garage yesterday morning without opening the door first. In either case, you’re probably broke, so get yourself an equal number of tall tapered candles and either apples, pears, or baby pumpkins. The small melon baller just so happens to make a hole the exact width of a tapered candle. Scoop out a bit at the top. (If you use a pumpkin, you’ll have to saw the stem out with a knife first.) Now slide in the candle. Viola. Super easy, super cheap, super decorative.
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Jello Balls – okay, I’m just showing off here. If you’re in the mood for a goofy dessert, try making some jello using ¼ less water than listed on the package. Once it sets, scoop the jello into balls, pile them into a martini glass, and top with crème or fruit. It’s a pretty darn easy way to playfully schmancy up a meal so your friends think you have mad kitchen skills.
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Hollowing Anything Out – want to stuff a tomato? Hollow it out with a melon baller first. Want to hide a tiny candy brain inside an innocent looking cupcake? Hollow out the top with a mellon baller, insert your candy (or ordinary filling if that’s how you roll), squish a little cake back in place and ice it with no one the wiser. Really, any food you want to go from a solid to a sturdy shell is best transformed with use of a melon baller.
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Melon Balls – what the heck. Why not go old school and try it for its intended purpose?
If all this talk of Melon Ballers leaves you craving actual fruit, let Sarah East teach you how to buy melons over at Grocery School.
