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Last Updated: Apr 16, 2008 - 5:52:06 PM |
A
team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists has evaluated
the merits of melons that combine the best attributes of cantaloupes
and honeydew melons.
The team has been searching for new ways to
solve organic and conventional melon growers' number one concern: food
safety, according to plant physiologist Gene Lester, in the ARS Crop
Quality and Fruit Insects Research Unit in Weslaco, Texas.
Cantaloupes,
also known as muskmelons, have sometimes tested positive for Salmonella
lignieres and Escherichia coli O157:H7. That's because potentially
harmful microbes can readily lodge in the fruit's rough, netted skin
and defy sanitation measures.
When netted melons are cut, any
harmful microbes--hiding in crevices on the exterior surface and
covered by naturally-forming biofilms that protect them from
sanitizers--can be transferred to the inner flesh.
The team
compared "netted" cantaloupes--the type bearing orange-fleshed fruit
with deep-green rind and netlike outer markings--with a
phytonutrient-dense, but nonnetted, melon genotype. They found that the
smooth-skinned melons are less likely to harbor bacteria.
The
smooth-skinned, orange-fleshed melons are also being evaluated for
their flavor. One such melon, Orange Dew, is being grown organically in
limited quantities in the United States. It has beaten the netted
Cruiser cantaloupe in a taste test. That's because Orange Dew has a
Brix score--a measurement of sweetness--of 11 to 14, compared to 9 for
most cantaloupes. Sweetness has been shown to be the most important
taste factor in repeat purchase of melons.
The orange-fleshed
honeydews store well, too--for around three weeks, compared to 10 to 14
days for a typical netted cantaloupe kept in simulated commercial
retail storage conditions.
Read more about the research in the November/December 2007 issue of Agricultural Research magazine, available online at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR
/archive/nov07/honeydew1107
.htm
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency.
______________________________
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Alfredo Flores, (301) 504-1627, alfredo.flores@ars.usda.gov
November 29, 2007
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
______________________________
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© 2004-2008 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified
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