Honeydew (melon)
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Honeydew is a cultivar group of muskmelon, Cucumis melo Inodorus group, which includes crenshaw, casaba, Persian, winter, and other mixed melons. Honeydew is also the American name for the cultivar White Antibes which has been grown for many years in southern France and Algeria.
A honeydew has a round to slightly oval shape, typically 15-22 cm long. It generally ranges in weight from 1.8 to 3.6 kg. The flesh of a honeydew is pale green in color, while the smooth peel ranges from greenish to yellow. Like most fruit, honeydew has seeds. Honeydew's thick, juicy, sweet flesh is often eaten for dessert, and is commonly found in supermarkets across the world. This fruit grows best in semiarid climates and is harvested based on maturity, not size. Maturity can be hard to judge, but is based upon ground color ranging from greenish white (immature) to creamy yellow (mature). Quality is also determined by the honeydew having a nearly spherical shape with a surface free of scars or defects. Also, a honeydew should feel heavy for its size and have a waxy (not fuzzy) surface.
The name casaba comes from Kasaba, a town in Turkey.
The winter melon variety of honeydew melon should not be confused with the homonymous winter melon.
The leaf of a honeydew
See also
