The Melon Baller

Melon Baller

Melons and Balls Chef Olga says: "Only pick large, ripe and juicy melons like mine here. The melon baller cuts your balls to shape, see down below."

ESSENTIAL USER NOTES

Sprinkling Use of the melon baller to sprinkle precise portions of hula breadstick crumble is critical to the accurate preparation of Pavlova Salad Sandwich

The melon baller is the third utensil examined in this series that falls into the category of utensils conceived with a single purpose in mind, in this specific case, its use to cut ball-shaped pieces of melon from melons. Unsurprisingly, these are known as melon balls. But, as with both the fish slice and the bread knife, Ready, Steady, Chuck! knows that the fact is that use of a melon baller is by no means restricted to the balling of melons. In the Ready, Steady, Chuck! kitchen, the melon baller can often be seen applied to a wide variety of tasks including stirring, shaping, tenderising, serving, and eating, as well as balling.

Unusual among kitchen utensils, the melon baller is frequently provided with a different shaped baller on each end. This feature can make the melon baller a particularly tricky utensil for beginners to master, especially if attempting to use both ends at the same time. However, this feature also enables the user to make two balls of slightly different sizes.

Often, the baller bit has a small hole in the bottom, which not only allows juice and air to be released during the balling process, it also means that the melon baller is able to be used to effectively remove the yolks from extremely small eggs. Because of this, the melon baller is particularly handy to use to separate quail's egg yolks or peel the skins from grapes.

Experienced chefs use the melon baller with other ingredients as well. The Ready, Steady, Chuck! celebrity chefs are adept at handling balls of all kinds in their daily activities. With practice and experience, you too will soon be able to make balls out of many kinds of fruit and vegetable, and other exciting ingredients such as tofu, ice cream, cheese, guacamole, porridge, Jamaica ginger cake, Weetabix and tuna, to name but a few.

Not a gobi scoop Chef Bruce demonstrates the use of the melon baller to poach sliced ham, during the preparation of Nearly Parma Ham Fish Parcels With Crushed Crisp Garnish

Use this utensil to make Cheesy Potato Profiteroles in a Cherry-Orange Coulis

QUICK START GUIDE

DO:

  • use the melon baller for balling melons
  • use the melon baller for balling other fruit, vegetables, and semi-soft ingredients such as cheese or Weetabix
  • use the melon baller as a substitute for many non-available utensils, particularly the ones used to scoop things with

DON'T:

  • use the ballers on both ends of the melon baller at the same time
  • use the melon baller as a knife or a fork
  • confuse the melon baller with a gobi scoop
  • use the melon baller to peel potatoes, unless you want really small round ones
  • compliment Olga about her melons unless you want to have first-hand experience of an entirely different application of the melon baller

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