The honeydew melon is of the primary cultivar type Cucumis melo Indorous Group. It is also called honey melon and is available all over the world. It is rich in flavor, but it is also nutritious and provides many benefits.
Benefits of Honeydew:
Rich in Nutrients:
It is rich in nutrients as it contains the following.
- Calories – 64
- Carbs – 16 gm
- Protein 1 gm
- Folate – 8 percent of RDI
- Fat – 0 gm
- Fiber – 1.4 gm
- Vitamin C – 53 percent of daily intake
- Vitamin B6 – 8 percent of RDI
- Vitamin K – 6 percent of RDI
- Potassium – 12 percent of RDI
- Magnesium – 4 percent of RDI
Reduction of Blood Pressure: –
As the general characteristics, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of blood pressure and heart disease. Honeydew’s low sodium and sufficient potassium are added benefits in blood regulation.
Rich in Nutrients essential to Bones: –
Honeydew melon contains bone-strengthening nutrients like folate, vitamin K, and magnesium, vital for bone health. Honeydew, especially, is a good source of folate, providing 8 percent of RDI. Bone mineral density decreases over time due to increased levels of homocysteine. Folates break down homocysteine and prevent the level from growing.
Involves in Blood Sugar Control: –
The contents of fiber and other nutrients help control the blood sugar level. Eating fruits can lower diabetes-related health complications, and it is proven that eating fruits three times a week can reduce the risk by 13 to 28 percent.
Rich in Water and Electrolytes: –
For proper hydration, it is not only water that can help your body; however, electrolytes are also essential if one needs adequate hydration. Since honeydew contains both water (90 percent) and electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, and sodium, it is an excellent hydrator after a workout.
Supports Healthy Skin: –
Vitamin C is important content for healthy skin. A sufficient level of vitamin C can result in the proper production of collagen, a structural protein that repairs and maintain your skin tissue. Being a powerful antioxidant, it can prevent skin from sun damage.
Boosts Immune System: –
Vitamin C also plays a vital role in protecting the immune system. Adequate vitamin C intake can prevent and treat respiratory and systemic infections, like pneumonia and the common cold.
Promotes Proper Digestion: –
The fiber in the honeydew melon helps improve the body’s digestive system. Having sufficient dietary fibers promotes bowel regularity, healthy gut bacteria and slows blood sugar response.
Supports Vision and Eye Health:
Two important antioxidants, zeaxanthin, and lutein are found in honeydew melon. These are carotenoid compounds well-known for eye health and preventing age-related vision-loss development.
Interesting Facts about Honeydew
There are many fruits and vegetables in the world that have their importance. However, not all of them survive in all the countries and their environments, and that is why different places are recognized only by those particular fruits and vegetations that grow the most in them. The same goes with honeydew and forgetting much deeper into the complete growth process of this fruit, and you should first understand most of the things that this fruit hold in it.
Chinese Connection: In China, honeydews are known as Bailan melons in Lanzhou, where they are popular. Lanzhou is the capital city of Gansu province of northwest China.
Plenty of Health Benefits: – Honeydew offers many health benefits, including solid teeth and bones, good vision, a strong heart, weight loss, improved digestion, thick hair, smooth skin, strong muscles, and strong tissues. It also benefits enhancing the functioning of the nervous system and removal of toxins from the body.
Physical Properties of Honeydew: – Honeydew has a round to slightly oval of 15 to 22 cm or 5.9 to 8.7 inches long. The general weight of honeydew ranges between 1.8 to 3.6 kg or 4 to 7.9 pounds. Usually, the flesh is pale green, and the smooth peel is greenish to yellow.
Consumption Guidance: – We usually eat fruit and seeds, but unlike other common fruits, seeds of honeydew are not consumed. Then inner flesh, however, can be eaten often for dessert. One can find the fruit in supermarkets along with watermelon and cantaloupe.
Cultivation and Growth: – Honeydew grows best in semiarid climates and is harvested based on size and maturity. It is not easy to find out the maturity, but the usual procedure is to judge the ground color, which turns greenish-white to creamy yellow, which shows it is matured. In California, it is in season August to October.
Quality of Honeydew: – The quality is decided based on the shape of the honeydew. It is good quality honeydew if the shape is nearly spherical and doesn’t have any scars or defects. Honeydew having good weight and waxy than a fuzzy surface is also a good quality honeydew.
Existence in Europe: –Honeydew is the American name for the White Antibes cultivar, grown for many years in Algeria and southern France for foreign shipment. After that, it was introduced in some countries in Europe.
America to China: – Chinese sources state that honeydew was introduced in China America by horticulturist Henry A Wallace in the 1940s when he donated honeydew seeds during his visit to some locals.
Gourds and Honeydew: – Honeydews are cousins of gourds, but there is a taste difference between the two. Gourds are fruits used as vegetables in food because they are not sweet, whereas honeydew tastes sweet.
History of Honeydew: – One can find the existence of honeydew as back as 2400 BC. The source of information is ancient Egyptian tombs, and it is observed that even Romans used to cultivate honeydews.
Characteristics: – When ripe honeydews fall of from vine. To prevent them from rotting, one must cut them with a small stem. Any exposed part of the fruit will make way for fast disintegration and rotting of honeydew.
Use of Seeds: – Seeds are usually a non-eatable part of honeydew; however, in different countries of the Middle East, the seeds are dried and roasted for eating.
Food for Babies: – Mashed honeydew melon or melon puree is given to babies to improve overall health. It is rich in vitamin C and is a good antioxidant.
Weight Loss Supplement: – Honeydew can be a good weight loss diet as it is a low-calorie fruit and contains around 60 calories per cup, and it is recommended in all types of weight loss diet due to this feature.
Nutrients: – Honeydew is low-calorie fruit and low in sodium content, and it is cholesterol-free and fat-free. The digestive health can be improved as it provides dietary fiber.
The ‘C’ Factor: – It is studied that one cup of honeydew can fulfill 70 percent of the daily requirement of vitamin C. This helps us prevent vision problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and the growth of cancers.
Appearance: – A matured honeydew melon looks like velvet because of its smooth and soft surface with no netting or ribs. In the early phase, some soft hairs are present, and it is a uniquely flavored fruit with juicy and thick flesh.
World Capital of Melons: – Cavaillon, a town in Provence, France, is the self-proclaimed world capital of melons. In exchange for donating his work to the town’s public library, it is said; the novelist Alexandre Dumas asked for a dozen melons per year.
Temptation Melon: – Generally, the flesh of matured honeydew melon is greenish, but some specific type of honeydew becomes orange. Because of its tempting color, it is referred to as the ‘temptation melon.’
After correctly understanding all the above interesting facts about honeydew, you will be able to include this fruit more and more in your diet and get all of its health benefits to the fullest for sure.
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Good article. I’m facing many of these issues as well..