Melon salad with mint syrup

Serves 4

To serve, scatter the mint leaves and syrup over the melon chunks (Jason Lowe)

The fresh tastes of melon and mint combine beautifully; you can use a selection of one or two varieties of melon here, depending on what's available. The skins from this dish can be used to make the candied melon skin recipe.

A selection of melons

For the syrup

The skins or rind from the melons
150g caster sugar
A handful of mint leaves and stalks

Cut the melons into quarters or eighths then remove the rind, leaving about – 1cm of the outer flesh on.

Cut the rind into rough 2cm chunks and place in a saucepan with the sugar and mint stalks and just cover with water.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the skins with a slotted spoon and put to one side for the candied melon skin recipe.

Simmer the syrup until it has reduced by about half and leave to cool. To serve, cut the melon into bite-sized chunks and transfer to a serving bowl or bowls. Scatter the mint leaves over and spoon over the syrup.