Chocolate-Covered Melon Cubes

Name: Chocolate-Covered Melon Cubes
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: Cantaloupe already cleaned 3.1 cups; Sugar 4 tbsp; Cornstarch 5 tbsp; Dark chocolate 70% 9 oz; Coconut oil 1 tsp; Ground pistachio to taste

Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Serving: 10
Cost: Low
Note + cooling time (about 5 hours total)

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PRESENTATION

Recipe by
Lulù Gargari

Chocolate-Covered Melon Cubes take the Sicilian melon pudding tradition somewhere new. The original gelo di melone is a chilled, molded jelly — soft, cool, deeply flavored with melon. This version cuts that same base into single-portion cubes, coats each one in a chocolate glaze, and finishes them with crushed pistachios. Melon's water content — around 89 to 90 percent — is what makes the texture work and what makes this a genuinely cooling thing to eat in summer.

Nutritionist Federica Federici, who developed the recipe with food creator Lulù Gargari for the vodcast Il piatto bilanciato, built the chocolate-and-pistachio coating around a specific idea: the polyphenols and healthy fats in chocolate, pistachios, and coconut oil improve the body's absorption of the beta-carotene in melon's orange flesh. That's the reason for each ingredient beyond melon, and it's what keeps this from reading as mere novelty. The result works as an afternoon snack or a light finish to a summer meal.

INGREDIENTS

for about 30 cubes: Cantaloupe 3.1 cups (500 g) - already cleaned; Sugar 4 tbsp (50 g); Cornstarch 5 tbsp (40 g)

For coating: Dark chocolate 70% 9 oz (250 g); Coconut oil 1 tsp; Ground pistachio to taste

Preparation

How to prepare Chocolate-Covered Melon Cubes

To prepare the chocolate-covered melon jelly, first remove the melon rind 1, cut it in half and remove the seeds 2. Cut about 500 g of flesh into cubes (about 17.6 oz / ~2.1 cups) 3.

Place the melon cubes in a container 4 and blend with an immersion blender 5 until you obtain a smooth, homogeneous texture 6.

Strain the melon purée directly into a small saucepan 7, then add the sugar 8 and the sifted cornstarch 9.

Cook over low heat for about 5–8 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk 10. When it has thickened, pour the mixture into ice cube trays 11 and level the surface with a spatula. Let cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 4 hours (to help, you can transfer the molds to the freezer for the last 30 minutes) 12.

After the mixture has set, melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, then add the coconut oil and whisk to dissolve it completely 13. Take the molds from the freezer and dip one melon cube at a time into the melted chocolate 14 so it's completely coated. Place them on a tray lined with parchment paper as you go 15.

Immediately sprinkle with the chopped pistachios 16 and return to the freezer for another 10 minutes 17. Your chocolate-covered melon cubes are ready to enjoy 18!