Juan Canary Melon

A few months ago a friend sent me a box with several packets of seed. (Thanks again Donna!!)  One of the packages in the box was marked Yellow Canary Squash.  I was intrigued.  They really didn't look like squash seeds but I never even "snapped" at the time.  Don't judge.  hehehe  I had three plants come up.  Well, I'm sure you've already figured it out but these are not squash at all.  They are called Juan Canary Melons.  There isn't a ton of information on the interwebs about them but wikipedia says they come from Asia. You can tell from the color where they got their name. 

The outside rind is softer than say... a watermelon or a honeydew. It's also smooth, kind of like a honeydew melon. It's oval shaped and the ones I have here are like 4-6 pounds each.  I wasn't sure exactly when I should pick them since I didn't know what "shade" of yellow I was looking for. The stems are supposed to "slip" when they are done.  The first one I picked (I realize now) was good but man oh man I knew that with a few more days these babies would be awesome. They turned noticeably more yellow a week or so after I picked the first one.  And I was right!  These melons are sooooooooo good.  They have a pale flesh that reminds me of a honeydew melon.  The seed cavity has  kind of an orange tint to it.  The texture sort of reminds me of a pear.  It's super juicy.  The flavor is kind of mild.  It's sweeter than a honeydew melon but not super sweet.  Absolutely delicious.

Some of the information I could find said they store fairly well.  That would be a double bonus. I'll let ya know if that's true or not.  Right now there are probably 10-12 of them about ready to pick and a couple more that will be ready before long. They've also got new blooms all over the plant at the moment.

I let one chill in the fridge before cutting it.  Man what a treat! They would be really good in a fruit salad too.  I'm going to try dehydrating one and see how well they do as fruit leather. I might also try drying some in smallish pieces.  I've done that with cantaloupe before, and they had a neat kind of candy taste to them.  Did you know that dehydrating foods intensifies flavors? 

You'll need 80-90 hot days to grow it so it should do well in the south and to the west.So there ya have it.  Everything I know about Yellow Canary Melons.  Except how much the plants spread out!  I have a new favorite melon. I'm already sure I'll be growing these again.