Cantaloupe


The cantaloupe, rockmelon, sweet melon, or spanspek is a melon that is a variety of the muskmelon species from the family Cucurbitaceae.
Cantaloupes range in weight from. Originally, cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe, but today may refer to any orange-fleshed melon of the C. melo species.

Etymology and origin

The name cantaloupe was derived in the 18th century via French cantaloup from Italian Cantalupo in Sabina, which was formerly a papal county seat near Rome, after the fruit was introduced there from Armenia. It was first mentioned in English literature in 1739. The cantaloupe most likely originated in a region from South Asia to Africa. It was later introduced to Europe and, around 1890, became a commercial crop in the United States.
Melon derived from use in Old French as meloun during the 13th century, and from Medieval Latin melonem, a kind of pumpkin. It was among the first plants to be domesticated and cultivated.
The South African English name spanspek is said to be derived from Afrikaans Spaanse spek ; supposedly, Sir Harry Smith, a 19th-century governor of Cape Colony, ate bacon and eggs for breakfast, while his Spanish-born wife Juana María de los Dolores de León Smith preferred canteloupe, so South Africans nicknamed the eponymous fruit Spanish bacon. However, the name appears to predate the Smiths and date to 18th-century Dutch Suriname: J. van Donselaar wrote in 1770, "Spaansch-spek is the name for the form that grows in Suriname which, because of its thick skin and little flesh, is less consumed."

Types

The European cantaloupe, C. melo var. cantalupensis, is lightly ribbed with a sweet and flavorful flesh and a gray-green skin that looks quite different from that of the North American cantaloupe.
The North American cantaloupe, C. melo var. reticulatus, common in the United States, Mexico, and some parts of Canada, is a different variety of C. melo, a muskmelon with a reticulated peel. It is a round melon with firm, orange, moderately sweet flesh.

Production

In 2016, global production of melons, including cantaloupes, totaled 31.2 million tons, with China accounting for 51% of the world total. Other significant countries growing cantaloupe were Turkey, Iran, Egypt, and India producing 1 to 1.9 million tons, respectively.

Consumption

Cantaloupe is normally eaten as a fresh fruit, as a salad, or as a dessert with ice cream or custard. Melon pieces wrapped in prosciutto are a familiar antipasto. The seeds are edible and may be dried for use as a snack.
Because the surface of a cantaloupe can contain harmful bacteria—in particular, Salmonella—it is recommended that a melon be washed and scrubbed thoroughly before cutting and consumption. The fruit should be refrigerated after cutting it and consumed in less than three days to prevent risk of Salmonella or other bacterial pathogens.
A moldy cantaloupe in a Peoria, Illinois, market in 1943 was found to contain the highest yielding strain of mold for penicillin production, after a worldwide search.

Nutrition

Raw cantaloupe is 90% water, 8% carbohydrates, 0.8% protein and 0.2% fat, providing and 2020 μg of the provitamin A orange carotenoid, beta-carotene per 100 grams. Fresh cantaloupe is a rich source of vitamin C and vitamin A, with other nutrients in negligible amounts .