Honeydew Melon Seed

Honeydew is a trailing annual vine with rounded, lobed leaves and yellow flowers, producing a smooth-skinned, round to oval melon with pale green flesh. The seed cavity in the centre contains many flat, oval, teardrop-shaped seeds about eight to twelve millimetres long, creamy white to pale yellow, covered at first in slippery pulp. Dried and roasted, the seeds have a thin hull that can be eaten whole or cracked to reach a small, tender kernel with a mild, nutty, faintly sweet flavour. Hulled melon kernels, usually from several kinds of melon, are sold as magaz in South Asian shops, and whole roasted seeds are a snack in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Gardeners also buy honeydew seed packets for planting.

Cucumis melo, the species that includes honeydew, cantaloupe and muskmelon, is believed to have originated in Africa or Asia, with later diversification across South and Central Asia and the Mediterranean. The honeydew group, called Inodorus, includes the smooth, non-aromatic winter melons, such as casaba and Crenshaw. The word honeydew in melon names is thought to refer to the sugary sweetness of the flesh, echoing the sticky sweet substance called honeydew produced by certain insects. The genus Cucumis comes from the Latin word for cucumber, while melo derives from the Latin melopepo, itself from Greek words for apple and gourd.

Melons have been grown and enjoyed in warm regions of the Old World for thousands of years, and melon seeds were naturally saved for planting and eaten as a by-product. The seeds of several Cucurbitaceae species, including watermelon, pumpkin and melon, have long been dried as snacks in China, the Middle East and South Asia. In India, magaz, a blend of the kernels of melons and other gourds, has been used in the rich gravies of Mughal-influenced cooking and in cooling summer drinks such as thandai. The honeydew melon itself became popular in the United States and Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as growers developed long-keeping, sweet winter melons, and California and Arizona became major producers. Because home cooks usually scoop seeds out and throw them away, honeydew seeds remain a largely overlooked food, but roasting them has become a popular kitchen-waste-reduction idea in recent years.

To prepare them, scrape the seeds from the melon, rinse off the pulp, dry them well, then toss with a little oil and salt or spices and roast at a moderate temperature until crisp and golden. They can be eaten whole as a snack, sprinkled over salads or yoghurt, or added to granola and baked goods. Hulled kernels are ground into pastes to thicken sauces and sweets in South Asian cooking, and are blended into drinks. Seeds are also saved for sowing the next season's melons.

Melon seeds in general provide protein, healthy unsaturated fats, magnesium, zinc and some fibre, similar to other cucurbit seeds such as pumpkin and watermelon seeds. There is little published nutritional or clinical research specifically on honeydew seeds, so claims about particular health effects are not well supported. They may be a reasonable occasional crunchy snack as part of a varied diet, taking account of their calorie density when roasted with oil.