.Here, in the conditions of hot summer, from Central Asia to the tropical regions of India, the largest number of cultivated and wild species of this plant exist in the world. The real center of melon origin, as an agricultural melon crop, is the Central Asian region, Afghanistan, Iran and China and India. But it is unlikely to see anywhere the ancestor of the varieties and varieties of melons obtained to date. Over thousands of years of selection, cultural forms have become strikingly different from the wild species growing to this day. And the ever growing bigger and more sweet fruits of melons with trade caravans and troops of the Romans and other conquerors came to the north of Africa.
There is evidence that European countries found out about the existence of melon and its unforgettable taste only in the Middle Ages, and in Russia, for example, in the Volga region, melons, imported from Persia and Central Asia, were grown in the 15th century.
Central Asian Melon Varieties: Names, Photos, and Descriptions of
Although many are not familiar with the Central Asian names for melon varieties, their photos are invariably amazed by melon growers and ordinary consumers. Such a variety of forms and types of melons, as in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other countries of the region, is nowhere in the world. Here, melon growers managed to get not only the most large-fruited, up to 25 kg in weight, but also the most delicious melons.
In this case, the shape of the fruit can be completely different from oblate and spherical to elongated – ellipsoidal. The palette of paints on the peel, smooth or pecked with small cracks, is also surprising.
The illustration shows varieties of melons of various shapes, skin color and consumer characteristics:
- cassab type melon;
- melon Bukharka or Chohar;
- Pineapple Melon or Ich-Kyzyl;
- melon cassaba Assan Bey;
- Chardzhui melon or Gulyabi;
- Cantaloupe melon.
Among the Central Asian varieties there are summer ripening melons, which are ready to eat immediately after gathering from the lashes, and there are varieties that are fresh stored for at least 5–6 months and show their best qualities only in the spring of the following year.
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Melons of Kassab type, you can see the names of these varieties of grapes in the photo numbered 1 and 4, also called winter ones, since their ripening begins extremely late.
After harvesting, the fruits are woven with reeds and hung in dry rooms or under sheds for aging and storage. Only by March the tough greenish flesh becomes juicy and sweet.
Melon Chohary, at number 2, or, as it is more often called in Russian-speaking regions, Bukharka has thick, white, very sweet pulp and gives oval, with a slightly pointed end, fruits weighing up to 6 kg. Due to the high juiciness of these melons can rarely be found far from Central Asia, but here the variety is in demand and widely distributed.
But the Gulyabi melon, in the photo at number 5, is well known in the territory of the former USSR.Rarely what plant can play a role in a feature film. This variety of Central Asian melon was lucky to play in the film “Station for Two”, but under a pseudonym. Everyone who watched this movie remembers the alien melons sold by the protagonists. In fact, there is no such variety, but the large, up to 3-5 kg weights, the egg-shaped fruits of Chardjuis melons were well known in the Soviet Union.
This variety, bred in the Chardju region of Turkmenistan, is characterized by dense white flesh, sweetness, good keeping quality and transportability, so it is not surprising that the Uzbek or Turkmen SSR brought the fruits to the European part of the country even in the deep autumn.
Under the third number in the photo is pineapple melon or Ich-Kyzyl, which gives oval fruits of medium size. The mass of such melon is from 1.5 to 4 kg. And although this summer variety was not familiar to a wide range of melon growers and gourmets in central Russia, the pink, high-sugar flesh of this delicious melon is valued at home in Uzbekistan.
Today, under the name Pineapple Melon in our country, breeders are offering an early-ripening variety that resembles Ich-kyzil in shape, exotic notes in taste and a grid of cracks on the peel. True, in just 60–75 days from the moment of planting, a modern variety can even please the melon grower with fruits up to 2 kg in weight under conditions of the Non-Black Earth region, which Central Asian melons are not capable of.
Melon Torpedo, in the photo, refers to varieties of late ripening, its large oblong fruits, due to the shape that the plant got its name, tolerate transportation. In Uzbekistan, where this old variety comes from, numbering at least three centuries of history, the fruits are called Mirzachul melon.
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In ripe fruits, the color covered with a fine net of cracks on the peel becomes soft yellow with a pink tinge, the flesh acquires an exquisite aroma, different sweetness and juiciness.
European Melons: Varieties, Names and Photos of Popular Species
Early-ripe melons of Kandalyaki are very popular in the East, their rounded shape and small size very reminiscent of the most famous melon variety in our country Kolkhoznitsa.
As can be seen in the photo, kolkhoznitsa melons are medium-sized, weighing up to 2 kg, fruits with white or yellowish flesh, even in difficult climatic conditions of Russia, picking up a good amount of sugar. Despite the appearance of new hybrids, due to unpretentiousness and precocity, the collective farmer variety, in the photo at the time of harvesting melons, is the most widespread melon crop of this genus.
In the photo with the names and varieties of melons at number 6 is another ancient plant species with an enviable and difficult history. This Muskalon is a native of Afghanistan or Iran, by the will of fate through Armenia and Turkey that came to Europe, or rather to the table of the Head of the Catholic Church.
The taste of the cantaloupe melon hidden under the thick skin of the bright flesh, as in the photo, was so liked by the Pope that the fruits of this variety have since been named after the papal estate in Cantalupo-in-Sabina, where the whole melon plantation was broken.
Today, Cantaloupe melon is the most well-known and sought-after variety in Europe and the USA, which has served many breeders to create new, productive and unpretentious varieties.
As can be seen in the photo, the Cantaloupe melon has an oval or slightly flattened shape and is covered with a thick net of whitish cracks.
This makes Cantalupu a melon of the Ethiopka variety. This melon is oval-rounded, like cantaloupe, fruits with a rough lobed surface reach a mass of from 3 to 7 kg. But if the “Papal melon” has a flesh of rich orange color, then according to the description, Ethiopka’s melon is white, very juicy and sweet.
Banana melon, or the long-growing variety of cantaloupe growing in the West, growing to 80 cm in length, has a delicious taste and aroma. Moreover, the fruit is not only reminiscent of a banana in the shape and color of the pulp, but the taste of the melon is just as soft, oily-tender. Try to grow this unusual melon variety on your plot next to potatoes, carrots and other vegetables.
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Potatoes The closest relative of this unusual variety is the Silver Melon or the Armenian Cucumber, which has the same roots as the cantaloupe, but unlike the usual melon fruits.
From the melon from the ripe fruit, up to 70 cm long and weighing up to 8 kg, only melon flavor remained, and the Armenian cucumber is still eaten green. Moreover, the plant is extremely unpretentious to the conditions of cultivation and fruits until frost.
Exotic melons: photos and names of varieties
From a number of relatives, the Vietnamese melon is distinguished by a bright pattern of alternating light yellow and brown stripes. However, this is not the only advantage of the variety.
No wonder a variety from Vietnam called pineapple melon. It has very good taste, strong characteristic aroma and soft pleasant pulp. Many people compare this variety with the famous southern and Central Asian melons, only the weight of Vietnamese melons barely falls to 250 grams.
Melotria rough or mouse melon from the Maldives claims to be the most miniature representative of the genus. At home, wild plants are perennial lianas.
In Europe and the United States in recent times, the culture is often called the dwarf watermelon and under this name the melon variety, in the photo, is grown indoors and indoors. The fruits are edible, but not sweet, but have a sour refreshing taste and are suitable for preservation and fresh use.
Kivano, another exotic melon culture, came to Europe from Africa. It is not for nothing that the grassy liana that gives yellow or orange fruits up to 12–15 cm in length is called horned melon, because bright pumpkins adorn conical soft spikes.
Unlike the usual melons, where the edible part is the flesh, the kivano eat the greenish core, where there are numerous white or light green seeds. Sweet juicy, similar to the refreshing jelly pulp of horned melon can be used as a fresh, and used to make jams, marinades and pickles.
Video about Torpedo Melon
