How to Pick a Cantaloupe

Research suggests that a cantaloupe is ripe enough to pick when it separates easily from the vine with no twisting, pulling or cutting.  The picking should leave a smooth indentation where the vine was and if there's any roughness to it, then it's not quite ripe.  With most fruits, that's not terrible, because it will keep ripening off the vine, but cantaloupes have no starch in them and will not become sweeter with time once picked.  So and underripe cantaloupe will always be underripe once picked, despite the fact that it may get softer over time.