MELONS
netted, smooth & canary
we cultivate our land with great respect
we put love & passion
Melon has always been one of the most loved fruits by Italian families.
Natural source of energy thanks to its content of natural sugars and its supply of vitamins and minerals, the fruit is recognized as an excellent refreshing, diuretic and great ally against free radicals.
What is the secret element that makes ours a product of international excellence?
Well, love of course.
The Top Melon melon is composed of 90% water (like all the others) and 10% love that for 25 years we have poured with care on every single fruit.
The connection with our Umbrian roots and the fertile soils that characterize the green region of Italy, make each of our products unique in taste, aroma and quality.
Tradition & Taste
Netted Melon
The netted melon has always been the most known and consumed fruit in Italy.
The scent is overwhelming – an interweaving of strong and decisive notes. The flavor is so sweet to conquer the palates of the whole world.
To consume the product at the maximum moment of ripening, it is essential to know how to translate the messages that the mesh skin transmits – the green tones of the striations indicate the degree of ripening of the fruit.
The pulp is bright orange with a soft and very juicy texture, characteristics that make the melon highly moisturizing.
This type of melon is the most in demand. Top Melon production is up to 120,000 quintals per year, to respond to the high market request, ensuring high quality standards.
The rated melon season runs from April to October, months in which the climate allows it to be harvested.
Pearls of sweetness
Smooth melon
A member of the same family as the netted melon, the smooth melon is distinguished by its delicate characteristics that give it an unparalleled quality.
Top Melon produces about 5,000 quintals of this delicious fruit every year.
Let’s discover the specific characteristics of this delicious and refined type:
Its exotic aroma and aromatic flavour make the smooth melon an original ingredient and much appreciated in the gourmet cuisine of all times.
The texture is soft and sweet on the palate, each bite ensures an explosive load of natural sugars and vitamin B.
The color of the smooth skin is unmistakable – shades that from white reach yellow tones at the time of harvest.
The smooth melon season runs from June to September.
The sun on the table
Canary Melon
Arrived in Italy from Egypt in the first century AD, the canary melon has become a fruit of excellence present on the tables of many.
The purely ovoid shape and the bright yellow colour of the skin make it easily recognizable to the eye. From the outside, this type of melon does not emit a characteristic aroma but, once cut, the light and juicy pulp releases an unmistakable scent.
The strong scent of white flesh contrasts with the delicate and thirst-quenching taste, a guarantee of its goodness.
The size of the fruit is very variable, it can even weigh up to 3 kg, far exceeding the size of the “classic” melon.
The canary melon season runs from August to October, Top Melon produces an amount of about 3,000 quintals per year.
Trade name: Melon
Botanical variety: Cucumis Melo
Zone of Origin: Italy
Melon (Cucumis Melo), a climber in the pumpkin family (Cucurbitaceae), grown for its edible fruits.
The melon plant is native to countries with a warm-temperate climate and its many varieties are widely cultivated in these areas around the world. There is evidence of its cultivation in the Nile Delta five centuries ago. The melon would then be cultivated in Mesopotamia, Greece, and then in Italy in the first century BC. It will be the Greeks to designate different cucurbits with sweet pulp with the name of pepon that derives from peptein and that means cooking, as if the fruit had been cooked by the sun. From there comes the mêlopepôn, then melopepo in Latin, abbreviated to melon in our language. According to Pliny the Elder, the melons of that time were the size of a quince and constituted a luxury dish consumed only by the rich Romans.
From the botanical point of view, the melon is a herbaceous plant with long stems that are provided with simple crawling or climbing tendrils, depending on the varieties.
Four types of varieties are grown mainly in our country, netted melon, charentais, smooth and yellow. It is one of the largest fruits, weighing between 700 gr to 4 kg. The skin varies in texture and color (green, yellow, orange or even white), as well as the pulp (from yellowish white to orange, passing through green).
Together with watermelon it is one of the most appetizing fruits of summer. The melon actually contains a lot of water, about 95%. 100 g of its pulp provides only about 35 calories and 8 g of carbohydrates.
Since the melon is a hot countries native cucurbitaceae, it has considerable thermal requirements during all phases of the vegetative-productive cycle. The melon is to be considered a renewal crop and therefore in the crop rotation it is inserted in rotation with cereals or other herbaceous crops. For the planting of the crop, almost all is used for transplanting, both for greenhouse crops and for full field crops (semi-forced and unforced). The melon is a cucurbitaceae that benefits considerably from a balanced and rational irrigation system. Identifying the right time for harvesting means allowing the achievement of a high quality standard of the fruits.
It is usual to test the detachment of the fruit from the peduncle, facilitated, when ripe, by the formation of a separation tissue to the insertion of the peduncle on the fruit. Harvesting is done strictly by hand and carried out by cutting the peduncle with scissors no less than 1-2 cm from the insertion of the fruit or detaching the latter where this operation does not result in injuries that are too evident and compromise quality. The development of the aroma is strongly linked to the degree of maturation and is characterized by some objective methods, determined by the ethylene inside the placental cavity, the hardness of the pulp on the fruits and the refractometric dry residue.
A melon contains 90% water, 8% carbohydrates, 0.8% protein and 0.2% fat, providing 34 kcal and provitamin A, carotene, beta-carotene per 100 grams. Fresh melon is a rich source (20% or more of the daily value or DV) of vitamin C (44% DV) and vitamin A (21% DV), with other nutrients in smaller amounts.
From the melon, multiple health benefits are obtained, this thanks to the constituents such as:
- Carotenoids, a powerful antioxidant that helps maintain healthy eye function.
- Folate, metabolites derived from the best known folic acid, important for a healthy development of the body’s cells.
- Vitamin C, essential and antioxidant to prevent the risk of tumour lesions and increase the defences of the immune system.
- Vitamin A, important for the health of gums, skin, bones and mucous membranes.
Melon is better digested if you eat it yourself. In any case, it is not advisable to eat it too cold.
Melon seeds are rich in health benefits. They are an excellent source of protein, vitamins (thiamine and niacin, vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid), minerals (magnesium, copper, zinc, iron, potassium, phosphorus and manganese) and fatty acids.
Although the minerals and vitamins in them may seem low, they are still far preferable to other snacks.
We can eat the seeds directly together with the fruit or alone, perhaps after drying. However, the lack of appetite leads us to suggest that you dry them in the sun and season the salad, perhaps after salting them to taste.
How to choose the melon
Choosing the right melon is not an easy task.
The truth is that each type and each variety have distinctive and specific signs for a correct identification of the state of maturation and therefore of the goodness of the fruit that we will eat.
Observe if along the perimeter of the base of the petiole there are small but perceptible lesions (like little cracks or splits) and that the green color of the skin around the latter is not too intense green. Usually the melon must smell (except for some varieties), but the aromatic picture must be pleasant, soft and continuous. If it is excessive or worse, prone to alcohol, it could mean over-ripening and therefore poor shelf life and altered taste. The pulp must appear compact and of homogeneous colour, with the part of the seeds easily detachable.
How to store the melon
All types of melon can be stored fresh or in the refrigerator but not in contact with the walls in order to avoid excessive cooling on parts of the pulp that could damage it.
How to prepare
Slice the melon in half and collect the seeds with a large spoon. Cut the outer skin as needed. Eat it as it is either in a salad or accompanied with ham. Delightful!
After starting to germinate the seeds at a controlled temperature and under careful nursery care, healthy and robust seedlings are obtained, which are handled in every phase with extreme care. The seedlings in the nursery are continuously monitored, checking that there are no excessive deviations from the optimal development temperature (25 °C) and that the essential elements and conditions of correct development (soil, nutrients, water) are never lacking. When the seedlings are properly developed, they are ready to leave and be transported to the field, where the transplantation operations will follow. Even if developed and ready, the seedlings are tender and fragile and the roots must not undergo particular or excessive stresses during the manipulations and the transplantation phase, as a result of which an abundant irrigation intervention is necessary.
Because melons like constantly hot conditions, plastic mulching and row covers will ensure early harvests and better yields, especially in regions where cold returns may occur more frequently. The covers should be removed when the plants have reached a high vegetation and to allow the bees to pollinate the flowers.
Plants should be kept healthy with good fertility and irrigation to prevent sudden withering, technically called physiological dryness.
The maturity indicators vary according to the type of melon. Most melons are ready to be picked when the grey-green color begins to change to pale yellow but never reach these shades. We cut the fruits with the aid of scissors, cutting the petiole and leaving it no longer than 1-2 cm. The detachment of the fruit is preferably not used, in order to avoid the occurrence of excessive wounds due to detachment.
A good practice that is very effective for the maintenance of organoleptic and qualitative characteristics, is to provide for a pre-refrigerant passage in the cell at a temperature of 7°C (± 2°C). Excessive exposure times to heat conditions after harvesting, promote the acceleration of metabolism, alter organoleptic parameters and reduce storage times. Conditions for reaching the operating temperature in the shortest possible time and the use of atmospheric saturation gasses such as ozone in the cell should be considered as improving.
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