Honeydew (melon)

Last updated
Honeydew melon
Honeydew.jpg
Species Cucumis melo
Cultivar group Inodorus group
OriginNorth Africa (Morocco to Egypt), Southern France, Spain
Honeydew melon (raw)
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 150 kJ (36 kcal)
9.09 g
Sugars 8.12 g
Dietary fiber 0.8 g
Fat
0.14 g
0.54 g
Vitamins and minerals
Vitamins Quantity
%DV
Thiamine (B1)
3%
0.038 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
1%
0.012 mg
Niacin (B3)
3%
0.418 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)
3%
0.155 mg
Vitamin B6
5%
0.088 mg
Folate (B9)
5%
19 μg
Vitamin C
20%
18 mg
Vitamin K
2%
2.9 μg
Minerals Quantity
%DV
Calcium
0%
6 mg
Iron
1%
0.17 mg
Magnesium
2%
10 mg
Manganese
1%
0.027 mg
Phosphorus
1%
11 mg
Potassium
8%
228 mg
Sodium
1%
18 mg
Zinc
1%
0.09 mg

Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults, [1] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies. [2]
Honeydew melon, Kolkata, West Bengal, India Honeydew melon.jpg
Honeydew melon, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Honeydew melon flower Honeydew melon flower.jpg
Honeydew melon flower

The honeydew melon is one of the two main cultivar types in Cucumis melo Inodorus Group. [3] It is characterized by the smooth, often green or yellowish rind and lack of musky odor. The other main type in the Inodorus Group is the wrinkle-rind casaba melon. [4]

Contents

Characteristics

A honeydew has a round to slightly oval shape, typically 15–22 cm (5.9–8.7 in) long. It generally ranges in weight from 1.8 to 3.6 kg (4.0 to 7.9 lb). [5] The flesh is usually pale green in color, while the smooth peel ranges from greenish to yellow. Like most fruit, honeydew has seeds. Its seeds contain high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. [6] The inner flesh is eaten, often for dessert, and honeydew is commonly found in supermarkets across the world alongside cantaloupe melons and watermelons. In California, honeydew is in season from August until October. [7]

This fruit grows best in semiarid climates and is harvested based on maturity, not size. Maturity can be hard to judge, but it is based upon the rind color ranging from greenish white (immature) to creamy yellow (mature). [8] Maturity can also be judged by the blossom-end giving when pressed with the thumb, in addition to having a pleasant aroma. [9] Quality is also determined by the honeydew having a nearly spherical shape with a surface free of scars or defects. A honeydew should also feel heavy for its size and have a waxy rather than a fuzzy surface. This reflects the integrity and quality of its flesh as the weight can be attributed to the high water content of the ripened fruit.

Nutrition

The honeydew is 90% water, 9% carbohydrates, 0.1% fat, and 0.5% protein. Like most melons, it is an excellent source of vitamin C, with one cup containing 56% of the recommended daily value. The honeydew is also a good source of vitamin B thiamine, as well as other B vitamins and the mineral potassium. In addition, it is low in calories compared to many other high potassium fruits such as bananas, with only 36 calories per 100g. [10] However, the honeydew contains only negligible amounts of most other vitamins and minerals. [11]

Origin and alternate names

The leaf of a honeydew Honeydew Leaf 2150px.jpg
The leaf of a honeydew

"Honeydew" is the American name for the White Antibes cultivar which has been grown for many years in southern France and Algeria. [12] [13]

In China, honeydews are known as Bailan melons. They are famous locally near Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province in China's northwest.

According to Chinese sources, the melons were introduced to China by American Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace, who donated melon seeds to the locals while visiting in the 1940s (probably 1944). Wallace served as Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President under president Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1926, Wallace had founded a major seed company (Pioneer Hi-Bred) and popularized the use of hybridized corn. [14] He also had a general background and interest in agriculture.

As a result of Wallace's introduction of the crop, in China the melon is sometimes called the Wallace (Chinese: 华莱士; pinyin: Hualaishi). The Mizo people use the name Hmazil, the Garo people and the Chakma people of Chittagong Hill Tracts use the name Chindire and the Tanchangya people call it Te'e in their local language.

In some parts of Latin America, especially in Chile, the honeydew is nicknamed "Melón tuna" ("prickly pear melon"). [15] [ circular reference ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kumquat</span> Species of small fruit-bearing tree

Kumquats, or cumquats in Australian English, are a group of small, angiosperm, fruit-bearing trees in the family Rutaceae. Their taxonomy is disputed. They were previously classified as forming the now-historical genus Fortunella or placed within Citrus, sensu lato. Different classifications have alternatively assigned them to anywhere from a single species, Citrus japonica, to numerous species representing each cultivar. Recent genomic analysis defines three pure species, Citrus hindsii, C. margarita and C. crassifolia, with C. × japonica being a hybrid of the last two.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rambutan</span> Southeast Asian fruit

Rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits, including the lychee, longan, pulasan, and quenepa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bell pepper</span> Group of fruits of Capsicum annuum

The bell pepper is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species Capsicum annuum. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange, green, white, chocolate, candy cane striped, and purple. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent chili varieties as "sweet peppers". While they are botanically fruits—classified as berries—they are commonly used as a vegetable ingredient or side dish. Other varieties of the genus Capsicum are categorized as chili peppers when they are cultivated for their pungency, including some varieties of Capsicum annuum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cantaloupe</span> Variety of melon

The cantaloupe is a type of food; a true melon from the family Cucurbitaceae. Originally, cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe, but today may refer to any orange-fleshed melon of the C. melo species, including the netted muskmelon which is called cantaloupe in North America, rockmelon in Australia and New Zealand, and spanspek in Southern Africa. Cantaloupes range in mass from 0.5 to 5 kilograms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cucumber</span> Species of flowering plant that produces cucumbers

The cucumber is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables. Considered an annual plant, there are three main types of cucumber—slicing, pickling, and seedless—within which several cultivars have been created. The cucumber originates in Asia extending from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China, and Northern Thailand, but now grows on most continents, and many different types of cucumber are grown commercially and traded on the global market. In North America, the term wild cucumber refers to plants in the genera Echinocystis and Marah, though the two are not closely related.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melon</span> Type of fruit

A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopepōn), meaning "melon", itself a compound of μῆλον (mēlon), "apple", treefruit " and πέπων (pepōn), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon". Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guava</span> Tropical fruit

Guava is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava Psidium guajava is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The name guava is also given to some other species in the genus Psidium such as strawberry guava and to the pineapple guava, Feijoa sellowiana. In 2019, 55 million tonnes of guavas were produced worldwide, led by India with 45% of the total. Botanically, guavas are berries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackfruit</span> Species of plant

The jackfruit is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). The jackfruit is the largest tree fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg in weight, 90 cm in length, and 50 cm in diameter. A mature jackfruit tree produces some 200 fruits per year, with older trees bearing up to 500 fruits in a year. The jackfruit is a multiple fruit composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals of the unripe fruit are eaten.

<i>Syzygium samarangense</i> Species of Asian fruit tree in the flowering plant family Myrtaceae

Syzygium samarangense is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to an area that includes the Greater Sunda Islands, Malay Peninsula, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but introduced in prehistoric times to a wider area and now widely cultivated in the tropics. Common names in English include wax apple, Java apple, Semarang rose-apple, and wax jambu.

<i>Cucumis metuliferus</i> Vine in the cucumber and melon family

Cucumis metuliferus, commonly called the African horned cucumber, horned melon, spiked melon, jelly melon, or kiwano, is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family Cucurbitaceae. Its fruit has horn-like spines, hence the name "horned melon". The ripe fruit has orange skin and lime-green, jelly-like flesh. C. metuliferus is native to Southern Africa, in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Angola.

The Bailan melon is a locally famous melon grown near Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province in the People's Republic of China. It is a variety of honeydew melon, globose to subglobose and typically has white skin with sweet, white or pale green, flesh. In photographs, the melons appear light yellow, orange or white, with a light green or apricot yellow flesh, which makes it similar in appearance to other types in the cultivar group of true melon. It is also heavy due to the density of the fruit's inner flesh. Like other types of honeydews, the Bailan melon is rich in Vitamin C and protein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter squash</span> Squash harvested and eaten in mature stage; skin hardened into tough rind

Winter squash is an annual fruit representing several squash species within the genus Cucurbita. Late-growing, less symmetrical, odd-shaped, rough or warty varieties, small to medium in size, but with long-keeping qualities and hard rinds, are usually called winter squash. They differ from summer squash in that they are harvested and eaten in the mature stage when their seeds within have matured fully and their skin has hardened into a tough rind. At this stage, most varieties of this vegetable can be stored for use during the winter. Winter squash is generally cooked before being eaten, and the skin or rind is not usually eaten as it is with summer squash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Claus melon</span> Variety of fruit

The Santa Claus melon, sometimes known as Christmas melon or Piel de Sapo, is a variety of melon originating in Spain that grows to about a foot in length and is ovoid in shape. It has a thick, green-striped outer rind and pale green to white inner flesh with a mild melon flavour and sweetness close to honeydew melons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canary melon</span> Melon cultivar

The Canary melon or winter melon is a large, bright-yellow elongated melon with a pale green to white inner flesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watermelon</span> Large gourd fruit with a smooth hard rind

Watermelon is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieties.

<i>Cucumis melo</i> Species of plant

Cucumis melo, also known as melon, is a species of Cucumis that has been developed into many cultivated varieties. The fruit is a pepo. The flesh is either sweet or bland, with or without a musky aroma, and the rind can be smooth, ribbed, wrinkled, or netted. In North America, the sweet-flesh varieties are often collectively called muskmelon, including the musky netted-rind varieties and the inodorous smooth-rind varieties, and cantaloupe usually refers to the former type. However, muskmelon in a narrow sense only refers to the musky netted-rind type, also known as North American cantaloupe, while the true cantaloupe is the European type with ribbed and often warty rind that is seldom grown in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red kuri squash</span> Type of winter squash

Red kuri squash is a thin skinned orange colored winter squash, a cultivated variety of the species Cucurbita maxima. It looks like a small pumpkin without the ridges. It belongs to the Hubbard squash group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriental melon</span> Melon cultivar

The oriental melon, is a group of Cucumis melo cultivars that are produced in East Asia. Phylogenetic studies tracing the genetic lineage of the plant suggest that it may have originated in eastern India, having then spread to China over the Silk Road, from which it was introduced to Korea and Japan. Its flavour has been described as a cross between a honeydew melon and a cucumber. It is noticeably less sweet than Western varieties of melon, and consists of about 90% water. The fruits are commonly eaten fresh; with its thin rind and small seeds, the melon can be eaten whole.

Sphingomonas melonis is a bacterium from the genus of Sphingomonas which has been isolated from the plant Cucumis melo var. inodorus in Madrid in Spain. Sphingomonas melonis can cause brown spots on melon fruits from the melon plant. In rice plants it can have disease-preventing effects, the seed-endophytic strain Sphingomonas melonis ZJ26 that can be naturally enriched in certain rice cultivars, confers diseases resistance against a bacterial pathogen and is vertically transmitted among plant generations via their seeds.

The kolkhoznitsa melon, also known as the collective farm woman melon, is a melon in the genus Cucumis native to Russia and introduced to the United States in 1993.

References

  1. United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  2. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). ISBN   978-0-309-48834-1. PMID   30844154. Archived from the original on 2024-05-09. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  3. Stephens, James M. (2018-11-01). "Melon, Honeydew—Cucumis melo L. (Inodorus group)". Minor Vegetables Handbook. University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension. Retrieved 2021-01-25.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. Stephens, James M. (2018-11-01). "Melon, Casaba—Cucumis melo L. (Inodorus group)". Minor Vegetables Handbook. University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension. Archived from the original on 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  5. A Comprehensive Visual Guide: What Does a Honeydew Melon Look Like and How to Identify It. What Does a Honeydew Melon Look Like: A Visual Guide.
  6. Yanty, N.A.M.; Lai, O.M.; Osman, A.; Long, K.; Ghazali, H.M. (June 7, 2007). "PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CUCUMIS MELO VAR. INODORUS (HONEYDEW MELON) SEED AND SEED OIL". Journal of Food Lipids. 15 (1): 42–55. doi:10.1111/j.1745-4522.2007.00101.x. ISSN   1065-7258.
  7. Honeydews Archived 2017-05-06 at the Wayback Machine . Producepete.com. Retrieved on 2015-04-22.
  8. Good Eats video with Alton Brown, "Melondrama". At 4:00 into the video, the method of choosing a melon is stated.
  9. Lester, Gene; Shellie, Krista C. (2004). "Postharvest Sensory and Physicochemical Attributes of Honey Dew Melon Fruits". HortScience. 27 (9): 1012–1014. doi:10.21273/hortsci.27.9.1012. ISSN   0018-5345.
  10. USDA Database entry for honeydew melon (raw). Access 9/7/2021
  11. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. Accessed 7/2/2020
  12. HS626/MV093: Melon, Honeydew ? Cucumis melo L. (Inodorus group). Edis.ifas.ufl.edu. Retrieved on 2015-04-22.
  13. What is the history of honey dew melons? food.oregonstate.edu
  14. Culver, John C.; Hyde, John (2000). American Dreamer . ISBN   9780393046458.
  15. es:Melón verde