Different Melon Types
There are more melon types than you can shake a stick at, hundreds of types in fact. In the United States we are mostly familiar with 3 different melon types, the honey dew melon, the muskmelon (also known as the American cantaloupe), and our favorite 4th of July melon, the watermelon. If you travel to Europe, Asia, Africa, or the Middle East, you'll discover an entirely different range of melon types, though the watermelon is found in most places around the globe.
A Squash? Almost But Not Quite - Melons are members of the gourd family. They are closely related to pumpkin and squash, but are of course much juicier and sweeter. We usually think of the squash as a vegetable and the melon as a fruit, while in truth both are fruits. For some reason though we grow a watermelons or cantaloupes in our vegetable garden, not our "fruit" garden.
Many of the melon types, like the muskmelon, have hollow centers. Others, like the watermelon are filled with flesh throughout. Melons in general have plenty of seeds, though there are seedless varieties grown.
Because there are so many different melon types that grow in so many different places, we can find melons of one type or another any time of the year in the grocery store or supermarket. It wasn't always this way. Melons have to be ripe before they are picked. They won't ripen once off the vine. Once picked, they have a rather short storage life, depending of course on the type of melon in question. Usually however, they have to go from vine to the store in a very few days, and often while under refrigeration.
Testing For Ripeness - It's possible to tell when most melon types are ripe by either the sniff test or the thump test. When fully ripe, a melon may have a musky or sweet fragrance, while it has no fragrance to speak of when not ripe. Some melons, like the watermelon, have a very tough outer skin and the sniff test does not work. Knocking on the melon like you would knock on a door is another test. A ripe melon will have a somewhat hollow sound, like an interior door might, while an unripe melon may have a sound more like knocking on a cement wall. There are a few melons, like the Korean melon, which bruise rather easily, in which case and a tap might be better than a knock, or just use the sniff test.
From the standpoint of nutrition, most melons are low in calories and contain little if any fat. The different melon types are not very good sources of minerals, though there are a few exceptions. On the other hand, most of them are very good sources of vitamins, especially vitamins A and C.
Growing Your Own Melons - Melons can be easy and enjoyable to grow, especially if you like vining plants. While the typical melon is for the most part a warm weather plant, there are short season varieties that can be purchased as plants or seedlings. It can be fun to try to grow several different varieties. You can usually find seed packets for melon types you don't usually see on the market. While growing, the vines need a fair amount of water. Once the fruit sets and begins to ripen, watering is usually cut down significantly. One trick to growing almost any melon is to place a board underneath the fruits as they develop. This eliminates rotting and several other problems you may run into if the fruit is left resting on the ground.
A few of the more unusual, but tasty varieties you might look for include: Athena cantaloupes (grown on the east coast), Canary melons (several varieties), the football-shaped Christmas melon, Oriental melons, including some whose skin may be eaten like that of a peach, and the European, or true cantaloupe. Don't forget to include one of the varieties of watermelon.