Eat Well And Healthy With Honetdew Melons

Honeydew – Juicy Fruit Wins Sweetness Award

The aroma of a ripe honeydew melon is unmistakable. One of the sweetest treats you'll find, this juicy melon is light, fresh, and about 99% water.  What makes this pale green fruit one of our favorites?  Let's take a look.

What is it?

The honeydew has a smooth, firm pale yellow rind that encases the sweet, juicy, pale green flesh. Most are round and somewhat larger than a cantaloupe, ranging in weight from four to eight pounds.   The rind turns from green to white to yellow as it matures. As the honeydew ripens, its skin transforms from very hard and smooth to a velvety texture and often develops a slight stickiness as if the juice was beginning to escape.

Harvesting the melon at peak ripeness determines how sweet the melon is. Vine-ripened melons picked at the right time have the best flavor and highest sugar content. Once a melon is picked, it no longer gets any sweeter.  A honeydew melon is perfectly ripe if the blossom end yields to gentle pressure when pressed with a finger.

History

The honeydew melon is the American name for the White Antibes cultivar that was primarily cultivated in southern France and Algeria as early as the late fifteenth century. Honeydew plants thrive in a hot dry climate and have been around America since the early nineteenth century.

The honeydew melon, also known as Balian or Wallace melon, is hardy, which contributes highly to its commercial value and success. The melons grow on long stems that emerge from a main stem. Producing both male and female yellow flowers on the same vine, it is the female flower that produces the melon, but the vine can self-pollinate which means it will fruit without any help from bees or humans; another reason for its success.

Health Benefits

Honeydew melons are an excellent source of potassium. You'll also be treated to almost half of the RDA of Vitamin C in just one small serving of honeydew melon. Also rich in pantothenic acid, and Vitamin B6, honeydew melon is believed to help lower blood pressure, relieve skin disorders, and provide other healthy benefits to the circulatory system.

The nutritional value of honeydew melon makes it an excellent choice for both weight control and general health. Honeydew melon provides many essential vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals, plus dietary fiber for better health, digestion, and blood glucose control. So, even if you’re counting carbs to lose weight, honeydew melon may be one fruit to consider eating.  Along with the nutritional value, honeydew melon is filled with juice, which, along with the fiber, makes you feel full.

Fun Fact

These melons are at their nutritive best when vine ripened. But there is one risk associated with ripe honeydew melons - they are highly perishable. After much research, scientists have come up with a solution to keep honeydew melons at their ‘sweetest best' after harvest. The solution is to drown the melons right after harvest in a water-bath containing a special calcium-amino acid solution. The calcium in the solution penetrates the rind to make it firmer and increases its shelf life. Thus the aging process of the honeydew melon is arrested at its peak.

How to Eat

Honeydew melon are most often used in fresh preparations such as fruit salads or cold soups. Honeydew pairs well with lime, mint, and fresh berries. Finely diced honeydew melon can be mixed with a variety of ingredients, both sweet and savory, to create beautiful salsas.  Because of the water content of the honeydew melon, they make wonderful smoothies and other beverages, too.  Once cut, refrigerate any uneaten honeydew melon in food containers for up to two to three days.  But, I suspect once you cut into a ripe honeydew melon, you won't be left with any to put away.