All About Melons

Watermelons, cantaloupes and honeydews are perhaps the most iconic melons in the United States. If you like those, you’ll love meeting more of the Cucurbitaceae botanical family! There are dozens of melon varieties, each with a distinctive flavor and sweet, fleshy fruit. 

When you’re ready to buy next-level melons, Fruitstand has you covered. We sell hard-to-find, top quality melons direct to you from our small, specialty farm partners. 

Melons are incredibly versatile fruits that find homes in beloved recipes around the world. From fruit salads to spiced chutneys, midori sours to aguas frescas, wrapped in prosciutto or covered in cream, melons are a fantastic canvas for culinary creativity. Melons can be prepared in both sweet and savory recipes, and in drinks for every age!

It’s important to note that the flavor of different melons varies widely between different varieties. When ripe, some are very sweet like a ripe honeydew, lightly sweet like cantaloupe, or bitter like, well, bitter melon. In general, melons are known for a pronounced, pleasantly musky flavor that’s sweet, floral and fresh, often accompanied by a watery yet firm flesh with varying levels of density. These fruits grow increasingly fragrant as they ripen, which indicates the flavor of the flesh inside.

That unmistakably heady fragrance is helpful to determine a melon’s ripeness. It should have a pleasantly sweet and musky, almost tropical, smell. The whole fruit should feel heavy for its size in your hands, and should be free of blemishes. Press gently into the melon with your thumb and feel it yield gently. If the fruit is still hard, let the melon sit on the counter for another day or two. Now, look at the colors of the rind. Some melons, like watermelon, are only harvested when ripe and have a green skin. For other melons, green usually indicates that there’s still more ripening to do.

All varieties of melons are considered to be botanical berries and culinary fruits. Melons are then categorized into three general types, or genuses. These are Benincasa, which has a single variety called winter melon; Citrullus, which includes the iconic watermelon and others with seeds suspended throughout their flesh; and Cucumis, the largest group whose seeds are clustered into the center of the melon fruit.

Today there are melons that grow natively everywhere in the world. Melons are believed to have originated, however, in an area of the world that spans parts of Africa, the Middle East and India.

Did you know that melons grow everywhere on Earth except for Antarctica? That’s right. These tenacious fruits have native varieties that are enjoyed throughout the world today. Melons are believed to have originated in an area of the world that spans parts of Africa, the Middle East and India.

Grown throughout the world, melon is season long and typically lasts from spring through the fall. Many consider the peak melon season to run from May through August, depending on the melon variety.

Whether melons are certified organic or not will depend on the farm where they were grown. At FruitStand, we only partner with the best specialty farms for exceptional quality of produce. When each harvest is available, we'll tell you whether the fruit is considered organic or conventional.

If you’ve ever wondered where to buy melons, we’ve got great news for you! FruitStand is proud to partner with small, specialty farmers to bring you exceptional quality melons. To be the first to know when FruitStand is shipping melon harvests, join our email newsletter!

Need more melons in your life? Join FruitStand’s Facebook Community of fellow fruit fans today!