Sweet and fragrant melons have been grown by mankind since ancient times. However, many do not know for sure whether it is a fruit, a vegetable, or a berry in general. We learn what these fruits should be related to, what benefits and harm they can bring, as well as how to grow and store this culture.

What is melon: berry, fruit or vegetable?

This culture belongs to the genus Cucumber, which is part of the pumpkin family. This means that melons and cucumbers are relatives. A close relative of these crops are pumpkins and squash, as well as tropical creepers and loofah. Common cucumber is classified as a vegetable; it can also be seen in the list of gourds. Among the plants growing on melon, there is melon, as well as watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin. If you ask which family or group of plants they belong to, you can see that they are all herbaceous plants from the Pumpkin family. Based on this, we can assume that melon, like a cucumber, is a vegetable.

Did you know? Kiwano (or, as it is also called differentlyhorned melon) also belongs to the genus Cucumber. This interesting fruit covered with pimples can be grown in warm regions by the seedling method. Kiwano tastes like cucumber and banana.

Culinary experts, meanwhile, are convinced that melon is a fruit, because it has juicy, sugary pulp. It should be borne in mind that the term "fruit" has a household meaning. For example, the British do not share the meaning of the words “fruit” and “fruit”. In our country, the juicy fruits of trees or shrubs are ranked among fruits, and melon belongs to herbaceous plants, like berries. In everyday life, it is believed that berries are taken with two fingers and eat immediately whole. It is impossible to eat melon like that - it is too big. Whatever plant of the pumpkin family you consider, its fruit will be called “pumpkin”.However, this name is not very common. Pumpkins are berry-like multi-seeded fruits, from which we can initially conclude that melon is also a berry. But this is not so: the melon fruit is a false berry, since from the point of view of the nerds the berries are multi-seeded fruits with a thin shell, and the melon is thick. From the above, we can draw the following conclusion: how you will call melon fruits depends on you, since experts have not yet come to an unambiguous conclusion on this issue.

Description and characteristics of the fetus

Common melon, belonging to the species of the same name, blooms in June-July with bisexual flowers that are pollinated by insects. The fruits ripen in the period from August to September - these are pumpkins with a leathery exocarp, juicy mesocarp and endocarp. They come in different colors and shapes, the color of the pulp is usually white or greenish. Sweet pulp is eaten raw; candied fruit, honey and jam are also made from it.

The melon is considered to be the eastern land - Central and Asia Minor, northern India and the neighboring regions of Iran. It is assumed that it was cultivated before the beginning of our era. It was brought into the territory of modern Russia only in the 15th – 16th centuries.

Melon properties

The sweet pulp of all types of melon is not only tasty, but also healthy. We find out what beneficial properties these fruits have, as well as what their excessive use can lead to and whether they have contraindications.

Benefit

Melon flesh has the following beneficial properties:

• contains vitamins C, K, PP, A and carotene, B vitamins, useful minerals;
• possesses antioxidant properties and increases the body's defenses;
• contains a large amount of sugars;
• satisfies hunger and is a low-calorie product - only 28–36 kcal / 100 g;
• due to the content of serotonin and sugars, it improves mood and helps fight depression;
• strengthens blood vessels and removes cholesterol, which is well reflected in the work of the cardiovascular system;
• benefits vision;
• helps with constipation;
• improves the appearance of skin and hair;
• saturates the body with moisture.

Did you know? Most rich in vitamins C, A and carotene is a variety of melons called cantaloupe. 250 g of this product contains a daily dose of ascorbic acid and carotene, due to which the flesh has a delicate orange color.

Harm

With excessive use, melon fruits can lead to such consequences:

• abdominal pain and diarrhea;
• immature fruits can cause exacerbation of gastrointestinal diseases:
• may cause allergies;
• not recommended for pancreatitis and gastrointestinal diseases;
• due to its high sugar content and high glycemic index, diabetics are prohibited.

Nutritionists do not recommend eating melon at night, as it can cause discomfort in the intestines and interfere with normal sleep. Lactating women should be careful with this product - it can cause increased fermentation in the intestines and is contraindicated if the baby has colic.

The basic rules of growing

When growing this crop, professional gardeners recommend adhering to the following rules:

1. The landing site should be well lit by the sun, as melon is a very sun-loving plant crop. The site should also be well protected from gusts of wind.
2. The soil is suitable neutral or slightly alkaline, well permeable to air and moisture.
3. Before planting, you need to pour and cover the site with polyethylene so that the soil can better warm up.
4. You can plant melon by seed or seedling method.
5. For planting, seeds 4-5 years old are best suited. You need to choose larger seeds. Before sowing, it is advisable to soak the seeds in a solution of boric acid and zinc sulfate for 12 hours.
6. Before planting in the soil, prepare holes with a gap of 70–80 cm between plants. Planting seedlings occurs mainly in early June.
7. Before sowing melon seeds in open soil, you need to make sure that the soil at a depth of 15 cm is sufficiently warm. As a rule, a suitable temperature is set in May.
8. It is necessary to carry out regular loosening and weeding of beds.
9. When the lateral stems of the seedlings appear, it is necessary to carry out the earthing up.
10. Watering should be carried out only under the root as necessary. This melon crop does not need strong hydration. During the fruiting period, watering must be stopped so that the flesh is sweet and not watery.
11. As it grows, it is necessary to pinch the plant over the 7th leaf, as well as on the side shoots. Excess shoots must be removed so that the nutrients go to the formation of the fetus, and not to the growth of the green part of the plant.
12. Top dressing should be carried out at least 3 times. The first top dressing is done 14 days after planting with nitrate, rotted manure or bird droppings. Subsequent application of nutrients is carried out with an interval of 10-14 days. For convenience, you can use ready-made complex fertilizers for melon. Feeding from bird droppings with ash is also good. During the ripening period, fertilizer application is stopped.

Important! During the melon planting in open ground at night, the temperature can drop sharply until the onset of frost. Therefore, at first it is necessary to cover melon beds with polyethylene or non-woven material.

Basic rules for the selection and storage of melons

To choose a juicy and sweet melon, you should consider the following recommendations of experts:

1. Smell. The fruit should give a sweet, pleasant aroma. If the smell gives off grass or is completely absent, then this instance is better not to take.
2. If you tap on the peel, the sound of the ripe fruit should be deafrather than voiced.
3. Weight. A more weighty specimen will signal that such a fruit is ripe.
4. The tail should be thick and dried, and the peel on the other side of it is soft and slightly bend.
5. Outer surface. Greenish veins occur in immature specimens. In a good fruit, the surface has a uniform color without damage, signs of decay, stains and dents. The color and shape depend on the variety, and the mesh pattern should be dense.
6. Melon should not be hard to the touch - This is a sign of immaturity. But the soft structure of the fetus, on the contrary, suggests that it is overripe.
7. When cutting this plant from the family of pumpkin seeds should be large and separate without problems. Longitudinal veins and gray colored seeds, often hollow, are a sign of the presence of nitrates. Melon aroma is not pronounced and mostly absent.

Melons can be stored until spring at a temperature of 0 ... + 3 ° C. It is best to choose late varieties for storage. Fruits cut into pieces can be kept in the refrigerator for several days. Pieces of pulp are often dried and dried for longer storage. You can also put the chopped pulp in a container, pour sugar syrup and freeze it.

Important! At temperatures below 0 ° C, the melon fruit freezes and loses its taste and all the beneficial properties.

Melons can be called in different ways - fruits or vegetables, and from a biological point of view, they are false berries - pumpkins. These sweet and juicy fruits can bring a lot of benefits to the human body, but they also have contraindications, which you need to know about in order not to harm yourself and your loved ones.