page_title: Oriental melon
section_title: Varieties
hierarchical_section_title: Oriental melon / Varieties
caption_attribution_description: Yellow melons (Korean melon)
context_page_description: The oriental melon, also known as the Korean melon, is a type of muskmelon that is cultivated in East Asia. Phylogenetic studies tracing the genetic lineage of the plant suggest that it may have originated in eastern India, having then spread to China over the Silk Road, from which it was introduced to Korea and Japan. Its flavour has been described as a cross between a honeydew melon and a cucumber. It is noticeably less sweet than Western varieties of melon, and consists of about 90% water. The fruits are commonly eaten fresh; with its thin rind and small seeds, the melon can be eaten whole.
context_section_description: There are many varieties of oriental melon.
  The most well-known variety is called ginsen makuwa (銀泉まくわ) in Japanese and euncheon-chamoe (은천참외) in Korean. Euncheon is the Korean reading of the Chinese characters used in the Japanese name. This type of melon was developed in Toyama, Japan, where it is now recognised as a "traditional vegetable". It was introduced into Korea in 1957, rapidly became the dominant commercial variety there, and its descendants remain so today. Varieties developed from the euncheon include: sin-euncheon ('new euncheon'), developed in the 1970s, and geumssaragi-euncheon (금싸라기은천, 'gold dust euncheon'), developed in 1984, which is now dominant. It is yellow in colour, typically about 6 inches (15 cm) long, and weighs about 1 pound (450 g). It is smooth and oblong, with white stripes that run the length of the fruit. It has white flesh that is juicy and sweet, and is filled with small white seeds.
  Other cultivars are coloured green and ivory, and vary from spherical to oblong in shape.
  There are two major landraces of chamoe in Korea: sunghwan-chamoe (성환참외), also known as gaeguri-chamoe (개구리참외, 'frog chamoe'), and Gotgam-chamoe (곶감참외). The gotgam-chamoe is particularly unique, having the aroma of a dried persimmon (called gotgam in Korean), from which it takes its name. These two landraces contain more nutrients and have greater disease resistance than other varieties.
  A variety called the Golden Makuwa (黄金まくわ) is recognised by the government of Nara Prefecture as a "Yamato vegetable" (大和野菜), a distinction indicating its importance in that region's agricultural and culinary tradition. It has golden skin, white flesh, and usually weighs about 300 grams (11 oz). In 1955, Golden Makuwa comprised 85.6% of all melons (western and oriental) sold at the Osaka Central Wholesale Market.
  Another variety, the New Melon (ニューメロン), is spherical, has a greenish-yellow skin, green flesh, and usually weighs about 300–400 grams (11–14 oz). In 1962, the Sakata Seed Company crossbred this with the Charentais melon, a type of European cantaloupe, to produce the Prince Melon (プリンスメロン), which quickly became the dominant commercial melon variety in Japan. Prince melons weigh between 500 and 600 grams (18 and 21 oz), have a greyish-white skin, and orange flesh. The development of sweeter and easier to produce varieties of hybrid melon, most notably the Prince, led to a rapid decline in cultivation of oriental melons in Japan.
caption: Geumssaragi-chamoe
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