Cool and delicious melon family is the appreciation period, full and round melon and foreign melon make people eat fingers, as a senior melon eater, orange meat, green meat, yellow skin, green skin, smooth, textured, which one do you choose? Buy melon can silently recite 4 big heart method: spring and autumn melon is the sweetest, the bottom of the melon is convex and the more delicious, cantaloupe is not a cantaloupe, choose a good melon to find a farmer! If you have doubts about melons, you have to ask experts, "Upstream and Downstream" visited the melon breeding expert - Huang Shengxing, an associate researcher of Tainan Agricultural Reform Farm, and the ten secrets of the melon family were made public at one time! (Read the story of Huang Shengsheng and her melon children, please click here)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" >Q1: Are melons related to melons? </h1>
That's right! When the melon and the melon are ripe, the peel will emit aroma, in the plant classification are melon seeds, melons can be divided into thin-skinned melons and thick-skinned melons according to the thickness of the skin, and the more brittle melons are thin-skinned melons, and the crispy melons with a cottony taste are thick-skinned melons. Huang Shengxing said that the melons and melons seen on the market can be distinguished by the size of the fruit, "The melons are relatively large, and the melons are small and can usually be mastered with one hand."
Both melons and melons are native to the Middle East and Africa, and melons came to Taiwan with their ancestors during the Ming And Zheng Dynasties, while melons were introduced from the United States and Japan in 1957 to test breeds of Cantaloupe, Honey Dew (open-field varieties) and Muskmelon (greenhouse varieties).
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" >Q2: Why do some people say that melons are melons? Why is the melon called a melon? </h1>
In Taiwan, melons are also known as mino melons, but they have nothing to do with Mino in Kaohsiung. "This is the result of direct transliteration." Huang Shengxing explained that the original text of melon is Melon, when it was first introduced, the Chinese people mostly called it "メロン", the pronunciation is similar to "Plum Lane", "Plum Melon" shouted for a long time, and slowly became "Minong Melon" passed down.
As for the "foreign" of foreign melons, it is related to the introduction time, Huang Shengxing explained that the crops introduced at different points in time will be different characters, "the introduction of the "Fan" character generation near the Ming Dynasty, such as: tomato, guava, and cherimoya; as for the foreign melon, it was introduced after the National Government came to Taiwan, "At this point in time, the crops from abroad are all 'foreign' characters." For example, she said that the melon and the potato Yomo were all classmates introduced at this time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" >Q3: Why isn't cantaloupe? </h1>
Walking into supermarkets and wet markets, sometimes you will see melons and cantaloupes listed side by side, and sometimes you will only see a single sign, which makes people foggy. Huang Shengxing explained that ha "honey" melon is the Chinese people's common name for foreign melon, and the origin of the honey word is related to the variety Honey Dew introduced from the United States, "Honey literal translation is honey", so many of the melons on the market began to be called cantaloupe.
As for the "dense" melon refers to a specific local variety, Huang Shengxing stressed that cantaloupe is one of the many varieties under the melon, "the local variety originating from Xinjiang hami is called cantaloupe", and the appearance is quite different, the commercially available melon is mostly round, the fruit of the cantaloupe is often olive or bullet-shaped, and the taste is more crisp.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" >Q4: How many colors are there in the peel and pulp of melon? </h1>
The appearance of the melon on the market is diverse, which makes people dazzled, and Huang Shengxing said that the difference in the skin of the melon can be divided into reticulated melon and glossy melon. The fruit ripening consequences of the reticulated melon have a reticulated, the flesh is softer, aromatic and juicy, the American Cantaloupe is a typical reticulated melon, but it is less resistant to storage; the light skin melon is represented by Honey Dew, the flesh is harder, sweeter, and quite resistant to storage.
In addition to whether the skin is smooth or not, the color of the skin and flesh is also very different, Huang Shengxing said that the skin color of the melon is diverse, there are yellow skins, green skins, and the color shades are also different, for example: in the early years, the autumn honey and autumn fragrance bred by the Farmers' Nursery Company were yellow, but the autumn honey peel was yellow, and the autumn honey peel was honey yellow; and the cut flesh color was also quite diverse, including orange meat, yellow meat, white meat, and green meat, "These differences are genetically determined." Cross multiplied, there are dozens or even hundreds of possible appearances of foreign melons, "I can't count them!"
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" >Q5: What varieties of melons and melons are the most on the market? </h1>
The mainstream varieties of melons and melons blow strong winds every few years, and "melon farmers have to work hard to catch up with the popularity." Huang Shengxing's description is not exaggerated, because the appearance of foreign melons is diverse, melon farmers often have different varieties of alternating in the field, due to the fast speed of change, it is impossible to clearly know which one is the mainstream, "The only certainty is that Taiwanese people do not like white meat, so the market can hardly see the white meat melon with reticulated fruit peel."
The same is true for the melon part, Huang Shengxing explained that 5 years ago, the mainstream variety of domestic melon was Yinhui, and then the farmer's seedling company launched Jiayu, and the greenhouse planting of melons is also slowly popular, but just like the rapid change of melon varieties, the seedling companies will gradually improve, and the appearance is quite close, so now it can only be determined that the pear-shaped type of white and green skin is the most common, but it is difficult to determine the bulk varieties.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" >Q6: Where are Taiwan's melons and melons grown? </h1>
The south is the base camp of melons, whether it is melon or melon, the top 5 producing counties and cities are located in the south, and the distribution area is slightly different. The largest melon production area is Kaohsiung City, the largest production area of foreign melon is Tainan City, and the gap between Kaohsiung City and other large melon planting areas is not far, but the area of melons in Tainan City is far more than that of other counties and cities.
For this difference, Huang Shengxing explained that when the melon began to be introduced, it was tried in the central region and Tainan respectively, "the result is that the success rate of Tainan trial planting is much higher", and the melon has developed in Tainan, and another reason is environmental conditions, tainan's average sunshine hours are long and the proportion of flat ground is high, which is quite suitable for melons.
Huang Shengxing once compared the planting areas of melons and melons, and found that there is almost no overlap, and the distribution map of melons is also related to melons, "the same land can only be planted at the same time", plus farmers will have planting habits, so melons with melon planting conditions close to those in Tainan are developed in counties and cities outside Tainan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" >Q7: I heard that the thicker the reticulated melon, the better it tastes, really? </h1>
The answer is not necessarily, Huang Shengxing explained, different varieties of reticulated melon grain thickness, obvious or not have differences, "taking different varieties of comparison will be misleading", especially if you see many varieties crowded together on the market to choose the thickest texture, buy home may not be satisfied.
Then choose a coarse grain in the same reticulated variety, no problem! "Different farmers will also have different ways of growing." Huang Said that strictly speaking, the comparison must be between the same farmer and the same reticulated melon variety to be suitable for "the thicker the texture, the more delicious".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" >Q8: When are the sweetest melons and melons? </h1>
The growing environment conditions of melons and melons are similar, but the sweetest time points are different. Huang Shengcheng explained that all melons are the larger the temperature difference between day and night, the better the quality, the more can accumulate sugar, however, the growth time of melon and melon is different, the growth period of melon is shorter and the season will be concentrated in the summer, the summer melon will be sweeter; the melon growth time is long, and the sugar content will increase in the late growth period, so the melon harvested after April to May and November will be sweeter.
Huang Shengxing quipped that when the weather is hot, the melon will grow fast, and if you encounter a time when the temperature difference between day and night is small and the temperature at night is high, the melon will grow very large, but it will not be sweet, "We will say that this melon is a 'big fool'."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" >Q9: How to choose delicious melons and melons? </h1>
Melon and melon even if not sweet will emit aroma in the post-ripening period, melon can look at the bottom of the fruit navel, under the premise of maturity, the fruit umbilicus does not concave represent the plant nutrient status is better; and the fruit of the melon is completed earlier, can not use the size to judge whether it is delicious inside, but if it is the same batch planted by the same farmer, the same variety, you can see the texture thickness, fullness, peel luster to choose.
"It's best to buy directly from the farmer and ask the farmer to help you pick it." Huang Shengfeng said that the same crop is still different from the farmer's cultivation or differences, if consumers are not too troublesome, you can make a phone call and the farmers' association and cooperative to inquire about it, directly explain the needs to farmers to order, the quality will be the most guaranteed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="34" >Q10: Can you plant a delicious melon and melon? </h1>
You can plant it, but the chances of growing the exact same melon are low. Huang Shengfeng said that melons and melons are sexually reproduced, so the seed variability is high, the gene sequence will be rearranged and combined, and there are about 200 seeds in each fruit, and each seed will grow into a different fruit, "If it is exactly the same, unless thousands of seeds are planted, there is a chance."
Further reading:
Driving the "most complex flower" melon, she bred the first melon in Taiwan, Huang Shengfeng and her melon children
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