Cold cantaloupe soup spiced with cardamom

Choose a cantaloupe with strong aroma that feels firm, not soft, with a dry stem that cracks off easily.

Wash the cantaloupe thoroughly under cold water with a vegetable brush.

To use the melon as a serving bowl, cut it in half crosswise (otherwise through the stem); scoop out the seeds with a spoon and choose the more stable half for the bowl.

With a Pomme Parisienne baller, scoop the flesh out of the bowl half without going too deep in the bottom, so it does not hole.

Cut the other half in wedges, remove the skin and cut into pieces.

Taste the cantaloupe for sweetness. Put the pulp in the blender with one cup of the cold sparkling water, half the lime juice and half the sugar, and blend.

Grind whole cardamom in a spice grinder, then pass through a sieve to remove the hard shells.

Season the soup with about half to three quarters of a teaspoon of cardamom and process again.

Chill the soup at least about an hour until totally cold.

Taste again and adjust with the remaining lime juice and sugar.

Serve in glasses or bowls garnished with thin skin-on fruit slices on top or on the rim like a cocktail.

Variation: serve in the cantaloupe shell, garnished with a melon ball, a few lemon slices and a little mint.