When perfectly ripe, honeydew melons are sweet and juicy with a mild honey-like flavor. An under-ripe honeydew, however, is bland and lacks the juicy bite that a ripe melon has. Mature melons provide visual, tactile and olfactory cues that separate them from their under-ripe counterparts. Look for a honeydew that is symmetrical in appearance, emits a sweet-smelling fragrance from the stem end, and yields when pressure is applied to its opposite end.