Sweetest melon (brix)

[Deborah]

What on earth kind of a father would encourage his daughter that way? Not to mention how dangerous that could be.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Deborah

What on earth kind of a father would encourage his daughter that way? Not to mention how dangerous that could be.

An enterprising father.

I can assure you if anyone even came close to bothering that lady the parking lot would look like a porcupine so may guns would pop out of nowhere.
This is Texas country style.
We have bikini car washes too.

We dont take kindly to people here hurting our folks.

Worth

[Deborah]

Oh. Then with my youthful good looks and stunning figure I'd be OK? Good to know!

[Barb_FL]

The best tasting cantaloupe I ever grew was Ambrosia. They were the best cantaloupe I ever tasted. Nothing else even came close.

I gave up on growing cantaloupes and zucchini because the caterpillars always won out.

[Worth1]

I prefer Tuscan melons myself.

Worth

[Deborah]

Worth, you were supposed to laff!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Deborah

Worth, you were supposed to laff!

I didn't see the post until now.

[Deborah]

OK, that's better...

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

Worth, I hate to break this to you, but there are melons that get sweeter off the vine. They are commonly identified as winter storage melons which taste kind of like cardboard when first picked, but after a few months storage sweeten up nicely. That said, I agree that the common muskmelon/canteloupe we grow in the south has to be grown right to be sweet and has to be picked at the peak of ripeness to be worth eating.

Can you post a link or something to these melons I thought I had read about them some place but cant find it now.

How on earth do they do it?

Worth

[ilex]

De colgar, de invierno, invernizo, tendral ... a class of their own. You pick them slightly underipe and they ripen in storage. Then stay ripe for quite a while. Storage is 3-5 months.

Of course, you can let them rippen on the vine. There are some truly wonderful varieties among these. Some are really sweet.

Most are in real danger as you can find greenhouse melons and not everybody wants, or can have a bunch of melons hanging from the celing.

[clkingtx]

My mom told me about a method to ripen cantaloupes. She would leave them in the back window of her car for a couple of days. She said it works every time.

Best melon I ever tasted was called "Milky Way" and it was a hybrid honeydew melon. My mom had bought it from a mail order seed company(probably gurneys or burpee). I was very disappointed when the first melon picked tasted like cucumber. I had picked it too soon. I let the next one ripen, and it was amazing. The melon gets a nearly white with a hint of yellow on it when it is ripe. It has green flesh, and it is firm, and smooth, and sweet and flavorful. It seemed like they got about soccer ball size when they were ripe, and a vine put out probably a dozen of them. My hubby doesn't like honeydews, at all, but adored these.

I have been looking for more seeds, or another variety like them, for years. No luck so far.

Carrie

[Deborah]

Carrie, I'm going to try that the next time I buy a store cantaloupe.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Deborah

Carrie, I'm going to try that the next time I buy a store cantaloupe.

Guys it just doesn't work it will get soft but not sweet dont be disappointed.
No starch and it isn't going to get sweeter once picked.
This is why you let sweet potatoes cure for at least a month before you eat them.
Regular potatoes start to get sweet as they get older.

Here is the deal for the store if you walk into the melon department and you dont smell them then there aren't any there to bother with.
I smoke cigarettes and even I know if there is a good melon in the store.

One time I was about to walk in the door of HEB in Bastrop.
Before I got in I could smell cantaloupes.
I looked and they had Pecos Texas melons in the store never before or after did I see them.

Green flesh behind webbing bad melon.
Yellow to orange flesh with sweet smell good melon.
They cant sell them because they will rot on the way or at the store.
How did they fix this.
They just kept putting out crappy melons until everyone forgot what good one were.

Garbage fruit and melons are a big time pet peeve of mine I can get up on step about it.

Great discussion on brix, storage melons and other stuff. Thanks for the comments, everyone.

@Worth1 I've got Valencia Winter melon seeds from Baker Creek. It's another storage melon (up to four months, they say). I've heard it gets somewhat sweeter after months in storage, but I don't know if it tastes like cardboard when initially picked. I started a plant indoors early last year, and it had some interesting qualities (but something mechanical killed it while hardening off; so, this is an indoor review; I grew them a few feet long while indoors). Anyway, 1. the leaves smelled awesome (sweet) and different than the other melon leaves. 2. The leaves were smaller (and rounder, I think) with more space between nodes on the stems than my other melons.

So, why don't they just grow winter melons for the store. Then they can store them a good while, and sell them when they're a few months old (but still young enough to have a great shelf life)?