Honeydew melons are a popular refreshment on hot summer days in this country. Although they have a relatively sweet taste, they are not necessarily counted as fruit.
The relatives of the honeydew melon
Botanically, honeydew melons belong to the pumpkin family (Cucurbitaceae). This makes the honeydew melon plants closely related to pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini. That would actually make them more of a vegetable. The division into fruit or vegetables based on a sweet or less sweet taste is common, but cannot be botanically justified. Honeydew melons are used, for example, for the following dishes:
- fresh as a fruit salad
- to garnish cocktails
- as jam
- for preparing liqueur
The assessment based on the growth habit
There is a common rule of thumb for distinguishing between fruit and vegetable plants. As a rule, all those plants are considered vegetables whose fruit-bearing plant parts are only cultivated once a year and die off after the harvest. This is the case with melons, as their long vines die off in the fall and new plants are raised from the pits the following season.
tips and tricks
If you want to grow honeydew melons yourself, you should prefer the plants in the spring so that the season is long enough for ripe fruit in our latitudes.
WK