Bland melon

Just harvested my first cantalope. Cant recall the variety, hearts-of-gold I think. I reduced the water to it as it got close to ripe, It was at full slip. Just pushed the stem off. It smelled amazing. I took it inside and let it rest a day in a cool place, then cut it open. It looked pretty good, not the darkest flesh Ive seen, but a nice orange, juicy as all-get-out. But when I tasted it, I was wholey underwhelmed. Pretty much no flavor. Ive gotten much better melons at the supermarket. Any ideas on why?

It honestly sounds like it was under ripe despite the signs that pointed otherwise.  The color and taste are really good indicators of ripeness...too bad you have to cut it open to test those!

Also, I've not heard of the variety.  I've found several melons that are, as you describe, wholly underwhelming.  Tigger melon was one - it is grown for its incredible aroma.  Tastes like dirty water.

an old fashioned way to check melons was to use an apple corer to take out a plug and taste it..if it isn't ready put the plug back in..you might get a bad spot there, but better than getting a bad entire melon

Brenda - great tip!!

I had the same experience this year.  Then someone told me that you don't want to pick melons right after a rain or something like that.  I'll have to ask her again because I picked another melon off the same plant when she told me to and it was sweet.

Rain is definitely a factor: I get tasteless tomatoes and figs after a rain, but one day of sun and all my pickings taste great again!