Fruit sizes up, then ripens: not the other way round. So, in 'short-season' climates, we rely on quicker, smaller varieties of hot season crops. Breathtaking tomato-taste, a rarity in these parts. But seed-saving season on world-class, locally-adapted melons? A rapturous delight.
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Image of a metal bowl with this morning's garden harvest of melons.
The ability to translocate and integrate useful, resilient traits into a foodshed? A true power of the open-pollinated archetype. Besides, 'The Machine' breeds hybrid melons only for hot climates, not cool nights. So, we've claimed Haogen (early, Israeli) as a 'future heirloom.'
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Copy of ASN Facebook post, here: First 'Haogen' melon (Cucumis melo) of the season, today - this off an isolated ASN seed increase. A short-season, Israeli perfume melon, juicy, light-green and honey-sweet with mottled green skin, some say they dehisce (let go of vine) when ready to harvest; others encourage harvest just before full-slip as they can easily become soft and over-ripe. That tendency, together with thinner, more delicate skin than most other melons, means you won't find it anywhere near a supermarket. The skins turn yellow on maturity and the fruit smells heavenly when ripe. I was hovering over the first ripening fruit like a hawk, and holding off harvest; but a critter began nibbling last night so I harvested this morning...to discover...perfection! Shockingly beautiful despite the fruit being, Texture, at that almost-perfect mid-way point between soft and firm…
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A 'generic' photograph off the web of Haogen. I ate today's example before photographing it.