Wintermelon Soup

This soup is often served at banquets and is sometimes cooked and presented in an ornately carved wintermelon. Despite its name, this squash is enjoyed in the summer, as it has cooling properties that clear out heat and quench thirst. Wintermelons are usually quite large, and at the wet markets—open-air markets and municipal buildings with a variety of fresh produce stalls—the melons are often sliced and sold in large slabs for home cooks.