Occasionally I do variety trials. One of the variety trials I decided to conduct was a pickling melon variety trial. For this one, I grew out all of the pickling melons that I could find and grew them out to their first true set of leaves. Then I tasted the leaves for bitterness. All but two of the pickling C. melo varieties that I grew had very bitter leaves (a clear indication that bitter fruit would follow). So I only grew those varieties out for a short while.
The least bitter pickling melons were spared and grown until they were much larger. At this point, I tasted the leaves and stems and found them to be bitter, so I pulled them too.
I am sure that there are some types of pickling melon that are not bitter, but I have yet to find them – yet.
Thanks, Jay. Please keep us updated!
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