Honeydews

Honeydew are one of the two main cultivar groups of the true melons, Cucumus melo. This group, Inodorus, is characterized by smooth rind in the yellow, cream, and pale green color range, and a lack of strong, musky canteloupe odor and flavor. Interior can also be a color range from cream, through green, and through peach.

Harvest fruit in this group when there is a slight softness near the stem attachment point and the fruit has become fragrant. Surface should be waxy and not fuzzy, and fruit should feel heavy for its size.

Some consider them bland, but as with other true melons, flavor, sweetness, and juiciness all increase by getting water to the vines regularly up to a certain number of days from harvest and then NO water for the last period before harvesting. Regular water increases juiciness, and holding back water at the end of the maturation cycle concentrates sugar and flavor. For this reason, they are sometimes grown in the desert where water can be applied strategically.